


Mortality

by PalaeoPanthalassa



Category: The Dark Crystal (1982)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Dark, Gen, Just general skeksis cruelty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 01:46:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5315660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PalaeoPanthalassa/pseuds/PalaeoPanthalassa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following the unexpected death of skekMal the Hunter, there is a shift the social dynamics at the castle. Tensions are higher than ever with skekLach remaining the Emperor's favorite and everyone else's worst enemy. It's only a matter of time before someone does something foolish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unease

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: This story is set about 83 trine before the film.

Evening was nearly upon them, the three suns would soon sink below the horizon.  


Quietly, the tiny band of gelfling picked their way through the wood. There was just four of them, all that was left of their family now. Up at the front Sola could see her father with her young sister in a sling upon his back, while beside her shuffled her grandfather.  


Sola had learnt to fall into stride behind the two adults as they made their way through the forest so that she didn't have to push her way through the thick foliage. But now they were coming to a stop. Grandfather was tiring.

Near silently they stopped at the edge of a clearing, Sola gladly flopped down upon the mossy spongy soil, tired from the long day's trek. They had been walking for nearly ten days now, a tiny fragment of a group of gelflings that had hid away in the mountains, until inevitably the garthim had found them. Everyone had fled in every direction, like dust they had scattered to the wind. Whether anyone else had survived the attack remained unknown. Going back was impossible, so instead they traveled to find the last gelfling stronghold left. But without any method of long distance communication, there was no guarantee this stronghold still existed, or worse yet if it had ever existed to begin with.

But Sola trusted her father, and she trusted her grandfather too, they were both wise and she didn't for a moment let doubt cloud her young mind. She was more interested in thinking of the future, of the new friends she would make, the excitement of exploring a new home, the new places she could play.

"Sola, stay close," her father reminded her quietly as he noticed her staring intently at a funny looking bird in a nearby tree. He turned back to her grandfather. "How are you holding up, father?"

"I'm still strong, but admittedly tired," the old gelfling rasped.  


"We've got a long way to travel yet, but we are so close now. If we are fortunate, we will be there by sundown."

Sola, growing bored, waved to her sister upon her father's back. The infant gelfling had just woken up and was now blearily looking around, her tiny little face lighting up as she spotted her sister, she burbled contentedly. When Sola then began to do a silly little dance, imitating a long-legged swamp bird, her baby sister shrieked with glee. At the abrupt outburst of noise, her father turned to scowl at her in warning.

"Stop that Sola," her father chastised quietly. "Or the garthim will find us."

"It wasn't me!" she whined, scrunching up her face and crossing her arms. "Anyway, we would hear any garthim long before they got here. We could easily escape."

"Garthim never tire," her father told her sternly. "And there are rumors of worse creatures yet in these parts of the wood."

Sola smiled mockingly, broadening her shoulder, attempting to look fearless. Her grandfather sent her an amused look, but her father just tiredly disregarded her once more.

It was only once she knew that neither of them were looking that she glanced about the clearing nervously.

...

Red eyes, somewhat faded to a rusty color with age, watched the gelflings pass into the clearing with anticipation. He had not had the joy of hunting gelfling for nearly a dozen trine - they were just so rare a prey these days - and now here were two of them!

Well technically there were four, but he did not count the two younger gelflings, both too young to make viable essence or slaves of; it would be easier to simply kill them on the spot.  


This was not to say that skekMal was impatient, though this in itself was unusual, as patience was a rare thing amongst the skeksis, they preferred an immediate reward to that of a long term one. But skekMal the Hunter had learnt how to use patience to his own benefit, after all, unlike any mortal creature he would live forever, he was a skeksis, and time was nothing.

He had been tracking these gelflings for nearly a day now, and finally he had caught up. His patience had paid off.

Slowly he drew an arrow from the quiver and notched it upon his bow, _steady, steady,_ he aimed at his target, teeth bared as he relished in his plan. Attacking head on he risked losing some of group, gelflings were surprisingly fast and being smaller and less bulky than he they were better suited in running through the thick undergrowth of the woodland. Which was why he aimed his arrow not to kill but to hobble, the gelflings would never leave one of their own behind after all.

A twig snapped below his foot as he maneuvered into a better position. One of the gelflings paused to look his direction.

"This should slow you down," he muttered, and let the arrow fly.

Abruptly there was a burst of movement, the gelfling that had looked back had indeed seen him, letting out a warning cry as it tried to run back into the forest.

But it was too late; his aim was true.

There was a familiar agonized yelp, a creature in pain. skekMal charged out into the open, swinging his bow back over his shoulder so that it was out of the way. Ahead of him the wounded gelfling stumbled and fell, crumpling back to the ground. He bounded over and kicked the gelfling onto its back so that he could see its face, one clawed hand locking around its throat as he lifted the struggling creature from the ground.

skekMal was disappointed to see that the gelfling was a lot older than he had first thought, and in terrible condition. He could feel every bone vertebra running along the back of its scrawny neck as it stared back at him with eyes hollow with fatigue. skekMal had seen the look before, in starved and beaten creatures; it was unlikely this gelfling would survive the journey back to the castle. The Emperor would have appreciated fresh stock...

But oh well, it wasn't the end of the world, he was beginning to feel very hungry after all.

His attention was brought back to the other gelflings by their distressed cries. Predictably, the other gelflings had stopped running once they had seen one of their own was hurt, and were now anxiously torn between running and returning, the bigger gelfling was trying to shield the two young ones.  


"Monster!" it yelled at him in its primitive dialect, and not moment later a pebble was thrown his way. Unsurprisingly the pebble missed him by several meters, but skekMal was pleased, assured that this gelfling would make good hunting and good essence. The Emperor would be pleased.

Smiling maliciously at the furious and terrified gelfling, he tossed the old one aside and slowly began to advance towards his new quarry.

For a few seconds the gelfling determinedly stood its ground, eyes flickering rapidly between him and its injured companion, then natural cowardice seemed to take over and it fled into the forest, skekMal following close behind.  


The gelflings for many trine now had told of the tale of skekMal the Hunter, so fast that he could outstrip any arrow fired his way; and though while this wasn't completely true - everyone knew that gelflings were terrible archers as well as avid story tellers - it was true that skekMal was unusually fast.  


This gelfling was still swift though, and had the advantage of small size when it came to ducking through and avoiding branches and heavier foliage, but predictably it followed a game trail, and skekMal was easily able to follow close behind. It occurred to him that the gelfling was running the opposite direction from which it had been heading, the youngling gelflings were no longer with it, and skekMal knew then that his quarry was deliberately trying to lead him away from them. No problem though, he would just trek back the way he had came once the hunt was over. And if there was no trace of the young gelflings, then he would simply inform skekZok that it might be profitable to send some crystal bats to survey the region.

Up ahead the gelfling skidded to a halt, finding itself at the edge of a ravine. It realized its mistake too late, that skekMal had deliberately corralled it so that it would be unable to escape.

Drawing a sharp blade from a scabbard at his hip, skekMal advanced slowly, arms spread wide so as to stop the gelfling if it tried to bolt past him. The foolish creature took a step back and began to edge along the ravine, moving backup a hill crest. This was a bad move though, the crest was narrow and allowed skekMal to circle around, completely blocking any chance of escape.

Tilting his head to one side, he gave the gelfling a toothy knowing grin as he moved closer. Now almost within striking range, he readied himself. The gelfling watched him with the wide-eyes of a frightened animal, skekMal's greatest worry now was that it would throw itself into the ravine just to get away from him – as past quarries had done before – skekMal knew he needed to be quick.

Just then there was a strange high pitched wail from the forest edge, the sound of a distressed infant gelfling.

skekMal looked back, and to his amusement found that the youngling gelfling had foolishly followed them. It was now fruitlessly trying to quieten the infant gelfling it was carrying in its arms, as it stood amongst the foliage at the edge of the forest, poorly hidden. His quarry took this distraction as an opportunity to escape and run back to the younglings. But hundreds of trine hunting and predicting his prey's every movement meant that it was only too easy for skekMal to catch the gelfling as it ran.  


He simply swiped with one long arm, his claws locking onto its narrow shoulder.

The gelfling yelled and shrieked, struggling fiercely in his hold, to steady the fearful creature skekMal firmly placed the blade at the creature's throat and immediately it froze in terror.

"I will go to the castle willingly, if only you spare my children," it gasped fearfully. "I will not fight, you can drain me and take my life, but please, just let them go!"

Normally skekMal did not talk to his prey, that took away too much from the hunt, but skekMal was irritated, he was starving and hadn't seen the dark crystal's light in over two days now, he was beginning to feel exhausted.

"Oh not worry," he said in a sickly sweet voice, speech pattern broken and distorted by his poor memory of the gelfling language. "I not drain them, or kill you. I just make sure you not run."

To its credit the gelfling did not struggle as skekMal dragged it towards the forest, it was only when it saw that he was heading for the younglings that its frantic struggling began anew.

"No!" it cried. "You said you would leave them be!"

"I spare them being drained, be grateful that they die quick," he shook the gelfling once in warning.

"Grateful that you would kill my children?!" the gelfling yelled, still struggling. "Monster! Monster!"

skekMal yelped in turn as he felt blunt teeth close on his wrist, the surprise causing him to misstep and twist his ankle, but he never let go. As a hunter he had been bitten by many things, and this bite barely stung, but the significance of the action disgusted him. How dare this puny creature bite him!? skekMal wrenched the gelfling free of his wrist and then lifting it off the ground, shook it violently until it stopped moving. The youngling gelfling at the forest edge shrieked and screamed at the sight, but foolishly it did not run, it made no move to flee, no attempt to escape.

Killing them would be easy.

Holding the now limp gelfling below one arm, he reached into the bushes for the youngling. But it stepped out of reach, still wailing obnoxiously, moving deeper into the undergrowth, then darting behind a fallen log, as if foolishly thinking that this offered some form of protection.

skekMal leapt upon the log heavily, rejoicing in how it creaked below his weight, how much bigger he was than the tiny wailing gelfling, how powerful he felt as the Hunter. He crouched down and reached forward again, but the youngling managed to avoid his grasp again. For a moment, skekMal's patience died and he leapt forward quickly to try to catch the youngling by surprise, however in this moment his feet slipped upon the mossy surface of the log and he hesitated. Just as he was regaining his balance, the limp gelfling below his arm abruptly sprung to life, taking him by surprise it broke free and darted away.

"Argh!" he snarled in frustration.

Swiping at the fleeing gelfling in a desperate bid to stop his prey from escaping, he took another misstep, his injured ankle knocked painfully against the old tree. He drew back, his long ungainly body twisting as he tried to find another foothold, but his heavy weight meant that his clawed feet simply slid upon the mossy bark of the log now, leaving great gouges behind as he fell backwards.

_'Kathunk!'_

skekMal gasped as the air was knocked from his lungs.

"Run, run!" he heard the gelfling yell at the younglings, and then there was the crackling and snapping of undergrowth as they fled into the wood.

He did not get up to stop them, he could not, and for several moments he lay there unable to comprehend why. The fall was only a meter or so, he had fallen further distances before. His robes stuck to him stickily, but it wasn't sweat that seeped over his chest, it was heavier and warmer than that.

For a few fleeting moments he feared he had cut himself with his dagger in the fall, but then he spotted the pointed blade lying a short distance away from him, clean and shining. But that also meant that it wasn't the gelfling's blood on him...

Then he saw what had truly happened.

skekMal had fallen upon a dark broken branch, the end of which now emerged out from below his ribs, through his hunting clothes, where the heaviness was greatest. He was pinned, like one of the bugs that skekLach kept collections of in glass display cabinets.

Snarling and cursing he clawed at the ground. He felt no pain in that moment, he did not know why, he did not care, all skekMal knew was that he had to get back to the castle immediately. He had to be present at the next Ceremony of the Sun so that his wounds would heal and he would live another day.

It could not end like this!

Unexpectedly memories of his past life as an urskek swirled in his mind's eye, none of them pleasant. Born of all the bad memories of sportsman MalVa, he knew nothing else.

There was nothing dramatic in his death, no deadly foe lay beaten before him, no one was even there to see him die. Snarling and growling, he cursed the world as it spun a giddy dance above his head, swirling, brighter and darker, brighter and darker. All alone, he cursed the world a thousand times.

Meanwhile, in the Valley of the Mystics, urVa the Archer lay surrounded by his fellow mystics. They sensed his pain, and sung in low tones to comfort as they watched him drift away. His faded sandy robes, covered in dream conjured spirals unique to UrVa alone, collapsed in on itself, fading to pale and delicate gossamer, it glowed a fading white as the three setting suns' rays shone upon it once last time. They then lay a death blanket upon his robes, to guide urVa's soul to the Tree of Life, and gently carried away his remains.  


In the forest, unknown by anyone except a few curious forest creatures, lay a mound of faded coarse green and brown robes, below which the Hunter's infamous bow lay hidden out of sight. And of the whom had worn them, not even a few hours ago, there was not a trace but crumbled grey dust.

* * *

The evening meal was over, and most of the skeksis were lounging around on the upper floors of the castle, or in the throne room. But that was not where skekTek the Scientist was at this time. He had left early, hoping to finish up his work in the laboratory for the day, turn off or check on anything that had he had left to boil or simmer, and then retreat to his chambers to sleep.

Unfortunately, the last person he would have wanted to talk to had noticed him leave and followed him.

skekLach appearing in the Chamber of Life was inevitable, as it had been every time before. Once a place he could retreat to when the squabbling of his fellow skeksis grew too tiresome, skekTek now did everything he could to avoid being there alone.  


"There is none left," skekTek pleaded desperately. "Even for the Emperor himself! There haven't been any gelflings captured for many months now and essence expires so quickly! It doesn't last more than few days outside of a host!"

"The Emperor won't be pleased, and neither am I," skekLach drummed his claws impatiently against the table, peering down cynically at the cowering Scientist. "But I see nothing more can be done here, if the stock has indeed run dry... Perhaps a future investment would be a better plan for me?"

skekTek didn't like the way this was going, but knew he had no option but to listen. skekLach's word was as good as the Emperor's; angering him would be angering the Emperor.

"When the next batch arrives," skekLach began. "I want three-quarters of the draught-"

"The Emperor would notice," skekTek sputtered nervously. "He would think that I am drinking it myself!

"That's where I have a plan," skekLach smiled unpleasantly. "Essence of gelfling is clear, like water. I want you to dilute the Emperor's portion. It has no taste, he won't notice, it won't bother him...and you will do it or else telling him that you've been taking the essence for yourself is exactly what I'll do."

skekTek stared back mutely in horror, only subconsciously aware that he in wringing his hands his own claws had cut into his skin once more. He had over 100 trine now knowing that every day could possibly be his last, if the Emperor ever found out about the missing essence he would take skekLach's word over his in a heartbeat, and then he would be dead. No more skekTek...

He felt he could barely breathe.

Fortunately at that moment, skekUng came lumbering into the Chamber of Life, cutting off whatever further threats the Collector might have had in store for him.

"Garthim Master, what are you doing down here?" skekLach sounded pleasantly surprised, though skekTek knew that in reality the Collector was annoyed.

"I'm here for the polish for the newest garthim shells," skekUng sounded irritable, but then again he always did. "I cannot begin soldering them until the individual pieces are completed."

"Ah, yes. I forgot about the replacements. Several more went missing on the last patrol didn't they? Surely you could have sent a podling?" skekLach said, but uninterested in the answer he stalked out of the chamber before the Garthim Master could reply, looking back once at skekTek and hissed: "The Emperor won't be pleased."

As soon as he was gone, skekTek slumped in relief.

"You came at opportune timing," he said to the Garthim Master. "I would thank you, if I did not know of your blunt honesty."

"Hmmph," skekUng huffed indifferently.

The Garthim Master had never been one for words, it as not that he was a fool or inarticulate, it was simply that he rarely seemed to think it worth talking. skekUng was unusual amongst the skeksis in that he had no and kept no secrets - or none that anyone knew of - and this made him potentially very dangerous as blackmailing or bribing him was nearly impossible. He would have been the Collector's greatest enemy, if it weren't for his infamous lack of ambition. skekUng had only relatively recently gained the title of Garthim Master, before that it had been skekUng the Metallist, and never had he vied for a different position. Secretly several other skeksis had made suggestions that he was up to something, though more yet thought he was just a fool, but none of them would have said so to his face - skekUng had a notoriously short-temper and the brute strength to back it up.

skekTek quickly sorted through his shelves, the metal of his right leg clunking loudly against the desk as he had to reach up to one of the higher shelves where last of the stored bottles of polish were. He made a mental note that he would need to make some more soon. Holding the dark bottle up briefly to the light to confirm that it was full, he limped back over to the Garthim Master and handed it over.

"You shouldn't let him bother you like this," skekUng grumbled. "It's unbecoming. The way you cower whenever he is around, do you think that no one else has noticed?"

"He's got me by the throat," skekTek retorted, wringing his hands once more and wincing. "Metaphorically speaking. I cannot stand against him without standing against the Emperor!"

"No one can, but they don't get into such a state that they wound themselves," he glanced at skekTek's scratched hands.

"Hah, just a coincidence. I shattered a glass vial before you arrived, the shards must have cut me," he lied, and hastily changed the topic. "I overheard a commotion earlier, what happened?"

"Nothing of interest," skekUng sounded bored, and skekTek felt jealous - it had been many trine now since he had had the luxury of feeling boredom! "However, rumors are that skekNa no longer follows skekZok..."

"You think he might switch alliances?" skekTek asked tentatively. "He's been skekZok's ally for hundreds of trine now, why would that change?"

"I do not know," skekUng was already turning to leave. "But it might have something to do with skekZok's current unpopularity with skekLach."

* * *

The three of them had been in the throne room. skekEkt had been taking the Emperor's measurements for a new dress-coat that he had ordered - a rare occasion as skekEkt rarely made new clothes for anyone now. skekAyuk had been there to talk over menu planned for the next day. skekSil had simply been there to be in association with the other two, and to remind the Emperor that he was still around, that he was still doing a good job.

And then skekLach had come prancing into the room, with him were his foul arduff hounds, tugging at their chains, snarling and snapping.

Needless to say, the three of them had left quickly as dignity would allow.

"It cannot go on like this forever," skekEkt said simply once they were back in the hallway, skekAyuk hastily nodding in agreement. "The Emperor will tire of him eventually. He will grow bored of him and then he will be nothing. skekLach has long since lost any allies outside of the Emperor."

Back when skekSil had been the Emperor's favorite, he remembered that as skekSo had aged and become more paranoid, the old fool had begun deliberately picking fights with him. skekSil had always done his best to avoid quarreling, even going so far as to agree with the insults the Emperor spat his way, but it had all been in vain. The Emperor had been only too happy to toss him aside when a seemingly more promising skeksis appeared. For a while skekSil had tried to win the Emperor's favor back, it didn't take him long though to realize that the Emperor found these attempts amusing, but more often than not he would be ignored altogether. And all the while the Collector watched him knowingly from over the Emperor's shoulder, relishing in the Chamberlain's repeated humiliation.

_How he despised them both!_

"The Emperor has grown increasingly paranoid," skekSil replied irritably. "However he would take the Collector's word over that of anyone else. It is not as simple as getting the Emperor to distrust skekLach, because he would sooner distrust himself than think badly of his _dear_ Collector."

"Perhaps we're going about this the wrong way," skekEkt said, wrapping a lead around his wrist a little more tightly. For a moment skekSil scowled down at the two little pet creatures the Ornamentalist had timidly cowering at his feet, they were quiet and well-behaved but they reminded him too much of skekLach's hounds for him to simply ignore them. "Perhaps it is not the Emperor's trust in skekLach that we should break, but skekLach's trust in himself."

"What do you mean by that, skekEkt?" the Chamberlain asked curiously.

"He must have secrets of his own. If we can find out what they are, then we can tackle him directly, no need for the Emperor to be involved!"

"Whatever we did, he would make it so that the Emperor was involved, and then we would only be putting ourselves in harm's way," skekSil replied dismissively, he had already learned this firsthand shortly after skekLach had first risen to power - it had been a humiliating defeat...

The Chamberlain paused worriedly when he heard the scuffing of robes upon the stone floor in the next room, his fears about an eavesdropper were without cause though, it was just the fool skekVar lumbering mindlessly out into the courtyard.

"Do you think he overheard anything?" skekAyuk asked in hushed tones.

"Don't worry about him," skekEkt wove a gloved hand dismissively. "skekVar is under skekLach's thumb, he hates him just as much as we do."

"You know, I don't think he even realizes that skekLach has been telling tales about him to the Emperor for quite some time now," skekAyuk chuckled briefly. "Hardly tales of praise, if you know what I mean."

"skekVar is a fool, but unhesitatingly loyal to the Emperor, we must be cautious with what we say around him," skekSil said sternly. "He might be easily tricked, but the same cannot be said for his allies. skekSa is much sharper than he leads others to believe and skekMal...well, he is stealthy."

"I cannot stand either of those two," skekEkt said haughtily. "skekSa smells as if he has bathed in the moat for a week and left his clothes to rot, and as for skekMal-"

"-he is a cantankerous creep," skekAyuk finished the sentence for him. skekEkt turned to face the Gourmand with a grin.

"Exactly," he hissed with glee.

"No need to fear the Hunter, he is undignified, savage and of poor reputation," skekSil replied. "And he too would gladly see the Collector gone. But that brings us back to the main problem. skekLach is still the Emperor's favorite, and if something is not done, he might remain that way forever."

* * *

"It appears that skekMal the Hunter is dead," skekZok had announced.

The Ceremony of the Sun had barely finished when the projection of a crystal bat had appeared within the heart of the crystal, humming and glowing bright.  


skekVar the General was still peering into the crystal's depth disbelievingly, where the scene as shown by a crystal bat was still visible. A mound of bloodied robes beside a jeweled dagger near the edge of wood.

The castle had begun to suspect as much of an outcome after the Hunter had failed to return in time for the evening meal for three consecutive nights. At first it had been thought that he might be simply delayed, but when he had repeatedly failed to report in with any of the crystal bats, they had sent out further bats to scout for him. It was only now that they had finally found any trace of what had happened to him.

skekVar ground his teeth uneasily, his gaze shifting to one side to look at the other skeksis in the room inconspicuously as possible. The Collector, as ever, hovered near the Emperor's shoulder, while the Chamberlain slunk in the shadows. Every skeksis was present there with the exception of the Garthim Master who was still overseeing the construction of the newest batch of garthim following the disappearance of several in the hills the week previously.

skekSa the Mariner stood close by, though anything he felt regarding the matter was well guarded, skekVar could read nothing on his blank narrow face. Though prone to surliness, skekSa was a good ally, being both intelligent and poker-faced; but he was just one skeksis, and not a particularly influential one at that. skekVar did a little thinking of his own, self-admittedly not his greatest forte but he knew intelligence wasn't everything when it came to gaining power, usefulness was what the Emperor preferred...or skekLach.

"Have the slaves retrieve his belongings from the wood and return them to the castle," the Emperor waved one hand dismissively at skekZok. "Arrange a funeral, and figure out what killed him. It wouldn't do for us not to know."

"I could be of use," skekLach said silkily. "Your highness, allow me to send the hounds. They will be much faster retrievers than any garthim and podling."

"A challenge?" the Emperor joked to the Collector quietly, only just loud enough for skekVar to overhear. "It would be fun, but I must decline. This is an unusual matter, better to leave it to the garthim."

skekVar narrowed his eyes at the flickering image in the crystal, not looking the Collector's way but listening in nonetheless. In the last 100 trine, skekLach had ingratiated himself into the Emperor's favor, skekVar couldn't stand him, as the liar had cast many shadows on the General's reputation. There was no way of retaliating either, skekLach's word had become as good as that of the Emperor's, but skekVar wasn't the only one that despised the Collector.

"This could cause problems," the Mariner said to him quietly, still looking at the crystal. "Now there are only two of us."

skekVar didn't answer, looking amongst the gathered skeksis again. skekSil was also watching the gathering, unintentionally they locked gazes. The Chamberlain gave him an unpleasant smile, and skekVar quickly looked away with a huff. He would find no follower in skekSil he knew, nor the two pompous windbags the Chamberlain called allies...

The Mariner hissed impatiently, leaning on his walking stick, he tilted his gaunt weathered face to look at the General questioningly.

"skekUng is essentially our ally, we've never had a problem with him," skekVar muttered quickly to the Mariner. "And he is allies with skekTek. Not all is lost, we could be the most powerful group yet!"

"skekNa follows no one at this time either," skekSa looked back to the crystal indifferently, but there was cunning in his words. "He might well join us. skekZok's popularity with the Emperor is in decline, without the Slaver and his soul-speech under his command, his ability to spy is significantly less. It doesn't help that skekLach seems to have taken a personal dislike towards him as well."

Soul-speech was a talent few skeksis had learnt, in the early days when they had still lived in peace with the gelfling some had taken the initiative to try to learn the method by which gelflings communicated with their animals, even so most of them had failed to grasp the talent. Since then it had become a jealously guarded secret, with a great value when it came to spying. skekSil was rumored to know it, which was why no secret was safe within the castle, there was also word that skekLach knew it too though the Collector had always denied this. The only skeksis confirmed to be truly fluent in soul-speech was skekNa the Slave Master, whom otherwise seemed to lack any discernible talent whatsoever.

Powerful and valuable allies were important.

It was a time for a new power to arise, and skekVar was determined that it would be him.


	2. Bird-of-Prey

The following day the garthim returned. The main meal of the day was over, and the well-fed skeksis were meandering around the castle languidly when they heard the distant chiming from the bell-tower. Slowly they had made their way out to the lower grounds where the garthim would pass through with their catches.

skekVar was one of the first to arrive, feeling restless he was glad for the distraction. In generally uneventful day-to-day occasions, the garthims' return provided a source of entertainment, especially in light of recent events.  


This wasn't a usual garthim run, returning with animals for the kitchen and lab, it had been a gelfling hunt. The previous evening skekZok's bats had spotted signs of gelfling habitation in the woodland where skekMal had perished. And by the looks of things the garthim had been successful, two cages contained gelflings, not many but then again there weren't exactly many gelflings left to catch. He watched curiously as the Garthim Master presented the caged gelflings to the Emperor, and as not a moment later skekLach stepped forward to claim responsibility for the capture which the Emperor all too gladly gave to him; leaving skekUng wide-eyed and fuming.

The General also spotted Ritual Master hovering at edges of the gathering, surveying the scene aloofly. The first person the Emperor turned to when he wanted reconnaissance, when he needed a spy, was skekZok. If skekSil was the ears of the skeksis then skekZok was the eyes. The Ritual Master was always watching, waiting for any sign of weakness, any opportunity, upon which he could seize.

...Or any risk he could avoid. It was rather easy to see that skekZok was trying to pretend he hadn't spotted skekLach who had just noticed his arrival and now had his gaze fixated aggressively upon the Ritual Master. skekVar disregarded the two of them as a commotion abruptly started up on the open ground below the parapet from which they observed the garthim.

skekUng had been in the process of unloading the cages onto a small cart which the podling slaves would take to the laboratory, when one of the old ropes had snapped and a cage had come loose and fallen.

Instantly the five gelflings in it made a bid to escape, scrambling out in a mad rush. skekUng immediately caught two of them, but the other three ran free, attempting to run back the way they had arrived.

"Garthim! Stop them!" skekUng bellowed.

One of the three ducked around their captors and disappeared down the hallway, the second was a moment too slow and was crushed in the claws of the waiting garthim. The third, a young juvenile gelfling little more than half the height of the others, managed to doubled back. Shrieking it ran up the ramp from the garthim but towards where the skeksis were gathered. There were several noises of alarm, though only skekEkt outright shrieked right back. skekZok watched the little creature intently.

"Stop the gelfling!" skekUng bellowed again.

Having not specified who he was talking to, the garthim did nothing, while the startled skeksis simply shifted around uncertainly as they watched. skekUng quickly barked the same order to the blank-eyed podlings slaves as he forced the two captured gelflings back into the cage. The podlings were slow to respond, but one caught the arm of the fleeing gelfing as it ran past.

The gelfling screeched like a cornered animal, striking, kicking and screaming. The podling that had caught hold of the gelfling's arm, despite being about the same size as the furious creature, abruptly toppled over the edge of the parapet backwards as the gelfling struggled. Whether pushed intentionally or just shoved it was not clear, it simply fell out of sight and was forgotten.

"Someone silence that creature!" the Emperor howled in fury.

The gelfling screeched again when skekOk the Scroll Keeper made a grab for it, ducking away it ran between the skeksis and into the small crowd. skekVar started to move towards where the gelfling was, but then decided against it once he saw the others converging ahead of him, crowding and shoving against each other as they tried to stop the creature - it was not his responsibility and he had no intention of being jostled and bruised by his brethren.  


Instead, skekVar wandered over to the edge of the parapet and glanced down to see if the fallen podling was dead.

The podling had fallen to the open space below, but instead of hitting the stone ground it had landed halfway across a small rise built into the side of the path for ornamental purposes; which its body was now lying over at a sharp angle. It was still alive though, stubby arms grasping at the paved stones, trying to get itself upright but failing, its legs limp. In its current state it felt no pain, it made no sound, blank eyes staring blindly up at the ceiling.  


There was a burst of movement to his right as the gelfling fled past him. skekVar made an attempt to catch it, but the little creature was already well out of arm's reach by the time he tried.

A moment later skekNa stormed down the ramp in pursuit of the gelfling which was attempting to escape back out the way the garthim had come in.

He stopped when he spotted the downed podling and barked at it to stand, when this made no difference he stomped over and gave it a swift kick. This rolled the podling off the path, but made no difference to its predicament. The Slaver scowled irritably and squawked for a pair of podlings to drag the injured one away.

"Why doesn't it stand?" skekVar asked from over the banister just as skekLach and skekSil scrambled past in pursuit of the gelfling, which was now corralled once more in the courtyard; they were followed calmly but decisively by skekZok.

"Because its back is broken, that's why," the Slaver replied harshly. "Can't use its legs, can't stand. Hasn't got a purpose now. Useless."

There was another particularly nasty shriek from the cornered gelfling, causing skekNa to look back over his shoulder for a moment. It seemed the little gelfling had finally been recaptured.  


Curiosity getting the better of him, skekVar leaned over the banister and spoke a little more quietly.

"I've heard you no longer follow skekZok," he asked. "If you seek new alliances now, it wouldn't be betrayal if you shared why?"

"You sound like the Chamberlain," skekNa replied irritably, regarding him suspiciously with his one good eye. "I despise him. Do I need another reason?"

As the Ritual Master stalked past, the gelfling now mutely staggering beside him with its narrow wrist caught between his claws, the Slaver wordlessly turned to sneer at skekZok's back.

* * *

skekSil stood to one end of the throne room, mulling over a scroll of paper - or rather this was feigned, as he had finished reading it some 10 minutes before, but stayed where he was partially to listen in, but mostly out of defiance as skekLach was also present.  


A few minutes earlier the Ritual Master had held an audience with the Emperor; it had had to do with the young gelfling that had tried to escape. skekZok wanted to temporarily keep it as a slave rather than have it immediately killed and processed through skekTek's laboratory. His argument had been that with the gelfling so young it posed little threat and would not yield much essence yet anyway, better to wait until it was older, to be kept as an emergency store, so as to speak, should the Emperor ever need one.  


The Emperor had liked this forward planning and commended him for it, all the while skekLach sneered over his shoulder at the Ritual Master. The Chamberlain was slightly amused by this, as it was rare to see the Collector looking uneasy - whatever skekLach's problem was with skekZok he didn't know, but he intended to find out.

What did he want the gelfling for anyway? skekSil wondered. It wasn't like the arrogant fool actually did any manual work, all he did was prance around with his head in the air and say many words that sounded wise but were usually meaningless.

Once granted permission, skekZok had left. The Emperor had since then - rather embarrassingly - fallen asleep in his throne, no one dared wake him though.

skekEkt had briefly came in, his decadent pets crawling at his feet. Spotting the Chamberlain, he had given skekSil a disapproving look and had wandered back out.

The Ornamentalist had been advising him to keep out of skekLach's way, apparently it was _"asking for trouble"_ and there were better ways to scheme. But the Chamberlain couldn't help it, he had always been an impulsive individual, unable to back down from any opportunity, even if his odds were poor. Sometimes it paid off, it had worked for him in the past, but never with skekLach.

The Collector was very good at guarding himself, he always had a backup plan and calculated his every move. It had proved impossible to draw him into acting irrationally as skekSil gotten other skeksis to do so in the past. It was like a board game, one in which skekLach was always one step ahead. Staying here out of spite was not exactly rewarding, but he did it anyway, simply leaving because skekLach was there was completely unthinkable in his mind; it would be like admitting defeat. Except right now, skekLach wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to him. He was too busy sampling the wine skekAyuk had brought in earlier for the Emperor to test, though skekSil was convinced that he was ignoring him on purpose. _The sly mongrel!_  


"Aaaah!" abruptly there was a loud shriek from outside the throne room.

The Emperor jolted awake at the sound. skekSil froze, gaze snapping to the doorway.

There was a terrible screeching and shouting, then the distinctive baying of skekLach's hounds.

"What is going on out there?!" yelled the Emperor, his eyes fell questioningly upon skekLach who had also frozen at the sound and was looking very confused. To skekSil's horror the Emperor then turned to look at him and ordered. "Chamberlain, find out what that noise is!"

The screeching and shouting continued. Whatever was going on out there, he did not want to be a part of it, but this was a chance to show his usefulness - if he ignored the fact that skekSo would rather risk his life than that of the Collector.

But before he could even reach the door there was a sharp howl and silence fell. skekSil paused at the doorway and looked out, but he could see nothing in the hallway outside, whatever had happened had to be in one of the rooms or halls beyond his sight. He could hear the distinctive sound of garthim moving around the castle, which surprised him as he knew they must have been ordered to move - this deep in the castle the garthim were more statues than guards, rarely ever were they summoned to life.

Then a new sound. The scuffing of material, rapid footsteps and ragged breathing, someone was moving down the hallway fast.

"Chamberlain, I grow impatient!" the Emperor snapped from his throne, his robes rustling as he pushed himself to his feet. "What is going on out there?!"

Hurrying forward, skekLach shoved skekSil aside so that he might pass through the doorway and look himself, only to find his way suddenly blocked by snarling figure.

He stumbled back as the skekEkt came storming into the room after him, hissing and growling he looked half-wild with fury, his sleeves in tatters and the front of his robes covered in dark red stains.

Without a word backhanded the Collector hard enough to send him sprawling across the drinks table.

For all his feigned daintiness and posturing, skekEkt was actually one of the largest skeksis in the castle - outmatched in height now by only skekZok and skekUng - and he had the strength to be brutal if need be. There was no place for weakness amongst the skeksis.  


"Narcissistic cretin!" he screeched at the Collector, and then he lunged forward again as if to claw him.

skekLach had gathered his wits by then, and realizing that he was under attack quickly rolled out of the way and back to his feet. He grabbed hold of the Ornamentalist's arms as he swung at him again, preventing the crazed skeksis from gouging him with his talons - only skekEkt responded to this by sinking his teeth into the Collector's unprotected face.  


"Stop this! Stop this now!" bellowed the Emperor as skekLach howled and shook himself free of the Ornamentalist's grip. skekSil gladly kept out of the way as the Emperor hurried forth to break up the animalistic brawl the two had gotten into, stepping between them and they immediately fell back - neither would dare accidentally hit the Emperor. "What is the meaning of this?!"  


"This maniac attacked me unprovoked!" growled skekLach, one hand upon his injured snout - the Ornamentalist had managed to draw blood.

"Unprovoked?! I couldn't be more provoked!" snarled skekEkt in far deeper tones that he would normally use, and then he thrust his arms upwards so that the state of his shredded blood-spattered robes was clearly visible to all of them. "This irresponsible buffoon didn't secure his hounds properly! They got out and attacked me!"

"Impossible!" snapped skekLach. "Even if they got free they would never leave their containment, and they certainly wouldn't dare attack a skeksis!"

"They attacked me!" skekEkt was actually shaking with fury. "So I had the garthim kill them!"

"You what?!"

"It was a quicker death than that of my pets! Your hounds consumed them! You hideous scarred creature!"  


Amongst the skeksis, accusing another of being ugly had lost much of its significance more than 900 trine before when they had first come into existence. They all knew that they did not look as they once did, incomparable to the urskek forms they had once possessed. Beauty in their minds depicted only by the jealous memories of urskeks from another world, this was also why gelflings appeared so hideous to them - gelflings with their flattened heads and bulbous eyes looked so warped, so unnatural compared to the fair elegant beauty of the urskeks.

A more powerful insult would be to question a skeksis' importance, dignity or intelligence, but for some reason that day, skekEkt found not the Collector staring back indifferently at him, but the Emperor suddenly standing between them, snarling in his face.  


"You will not attend this evening's meal, or any others for the next two days! Is that clear?! Ornamentalist?!" he growled in a low voice. "You have behaved despicably! Behavior worthy of an animal! Get out of my sight!"  


skekEkt froze, and for a moment the Chamberlain feared that the Ornamentalist would do something suicidal. But instead he just nodded, shakily bowing to the Emperor, before fleeing from the room in disgrace.

skekSo then turned to regard the Collector with something that looked sickeningly like concern. With no eyes on him, skekSil sneered and hurried out of the throne room, following skekEkt.

The Ornamentalist's hasty steps had already sped him out of the hallway and down to the next floor by the time the Chamberlain had left the throne room.

He heard skekEkt before he saw him again, the Ornamentalist was standing outside his room shouting; at skekAyuk to be precise - who looked both gormless and confused.

skekEkt fell silent when he heard skekSil approaching. He looked around nervously for a moment, then seeing that it was just the Chamberlain, he huffed, turned away and went into him chambers, closing the door behind him.

"What happened?" skekAyuk asked skekSil uncertainly. "He wouldn't tell me, just kept squawking about being attacked."  


"skekLach," skekSil said simply, pushing the closed door open and following after the Ornamentalist, the Gourmand following close behind him.  


skekEkt had worked himself up into a hysterical state. Hiccuping he stood in the center of his room, staring into full-length mirror, shaking. Running his talons through the thin strands of hair he had left, he abruptly seemed to snarl at his reflection and struck out at the glass.  


"Why are the two of you here?!" skekEkt snapped shrilly, voice cracking. The Ornamentalist's dignity was everything that he was, his image of vanity and pride, but right now that was in tatters, so he fell apart. "Leave me be! I must change into something more proper!"  


skekAyuk looked as if he wanted to comply, nodding quickly and wordlessly heading towards the door. But skekSil stood his ground.

"You will have to apologize to the Emperor," he said delicately, knowing that skekEkt was still in a frenzied state and might possibly lash out at him. After just seeing how brutal the Ornamentalist could be only minutes before, he did not wish to experience skekEkt's wrath firsthand, but some things had to be said. If skekEkt, one of the Chamberlain's highly valued allies, fell out of favor with the Emperor then it was likely that skekSil would need to disassociate himself from the Ornamentalist - which wouldn't benefit either of them.   


"Apologize?!" skekEkt squawked, then hissing to himself he turned away. "I know that, but the idea disgusts me! skekLach was in the wrong! When was the last time that a skeksis feared for their own life in this castle? Not since the great division I would think. I certainly haven't felt that kind of fear till now!"

He only then seemed to notice the two torn leashes flapping about uselessly at the end of his arm, with disgust and horror he hastily untied them, chucking them to one side.  


"They just came at me," he said quietly but furiously. "I've never liked those hounds! They should never have been allowed in the castle! We stopped bringing dangerous beasts here when the Colosseum was closed nearly three hundred trine ago!"

"I doubt the Emperor will replace them," skekAyuk tried to reassure. "Even he can see that keeping them was a bad idea now."

"You don't know that," skekEkt hissed. "His _dear_ Collector gets whatever he wants. I wouldn't be surprised if the Emperor let him keep a rakkida if he asked!"

"You were courageous, you faced them head on," the Gourmand continued, realizing that talking was calming the Ornamentalist. "You took control of the situation and saved yourself! If it had been anyone else, they would be dead now."

While this wasn't strictly true, skekEkt puffed up at the compliment nonetheless. Still shaking a little, he turned decisively to look at skekSil.

"I've thought about what you said, Chamberlain," he said collectedly, as he recomposed himself. "And you are right. It is too dangerous for one of us to get rid of skekLach. So why not get someone else to do it for us?"  


"But that would be risky," the Chamberlain had thought of doing this before, but had always decided against it. "If they realized that they were being used, and told the Emperor-"

"If you can't get rid of skekLach, then perhaps you are not worthy of leading us!" skekEkt answered quickly, then looked to skekAyuk. "What do you think, Gourmand?"

"I think something should be done," skekAyuk answered neutrally, trying not to antagonize either of them.

"We could find someone else," skekEkt threatened. "skekZok is a capable leader!"

The Chamberlain sneered at him, but the Ornamentalist didn't notice, instead he stared intently at skekAyuk, waiting for him to agree.

"skekZok is capable," the Gourmand halfheartedly replied, intimidated but still trying to avoid taking sides.

"You see?" skekEkt said decisively. "Either you do something about skekLach immediately, or you lose both your allies."

* * *

"You are upset," the towering monster observed.

Sola wiped the tears from her eyes defiantly and looked back up at the creature dressed in red and gold, and it looked back with its hollow pale eyes. She was scared, she found all the skeksis frightening, but this one hadn't shouted at her yet, and so she held onto a frail hope of doubt that it wouldn't try to hurt her. It was the only one who had spoken words to her that she understood, although its accent was strange and its words sometimes hard to understand.  


"I don't want to be," she tried to retaliate, but it came out as cry.

They were alone in a room, the ceiling impossibly high, Sola had never seen such a place before, bigger than any cave or hut she had ever seen. The skeksis had only just returned, having locked her in here and left her for some time. She had already had time to look around for an escape and found nothing. There was a big open window but she was too young to glide, her wings would not have the strength to support her. If she had leapt and her wings crumpled then she knew she would fall to her death on the rocks outside.

The skeksis abruptly knelt in front of her, but even then it was still so much bigger than her. If it was trying to make itself less intimidating it failed. Sola thought it looked more as if it was trying to cage her in, or as if it was going to pounce.  


"Listen to me, gelfling, because no one else will," it told her sternly, pointing one clawed finger at her. "You were captured by the garthim, so you now belong to the lords of the crystal. Do you know what has happened to the others that were caught?"

"They've been drained," she said quietly. "...drained till they die."  


"But you haven't been, have you?"

She shook her head.

"If you are good it will remain that way," the skeksis said to her, and she was fixated by the sight of its sharp hooked teeth. "I am the only one you can trust, behave and nothing bad will happen to you. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"Good," the skeksis drew back, getting to its feet. "My name is skekZok, the Ritual Master, but you will refer to me simply as master, as you will address all skeksis from now on. Is that clear? I cannot protect you if you anger the other skeksis, especially the Emperor. It is only on his word that I was allowed to keep you, understood?"

Sola didn't reply this time, simply scrunching up her face and trying to fight back tears. She didn't want to be here, she wanted to be back home in the caves, with everyone she had ever known.

"Were your family amongst those caught in the raid?" skekZok asked.

"No," Sola was filled with the pain of betrayal at the memory. "They all got away, I was the only one to get caught."

"Doesn't that please you, that they escaped?" the skeksis asked confused.

"They left me behind!" she cried, the image fresh in her mind. "My father saw me caught in the claws of a garthim and he… he just picked up my sister and ran! He just ran away..."

"I know I cannot be of much comfort, this is just the way things are, but you are lucky that I was one the who caught you," skekZok went on, a blunt claw tapped upon her chin, and to her it felt deathly cold, like the bones of the dead. "If it had been anyone else you would have been drained by now, or simply killed on the spot. Be loyal to me, and I will make sure you remain safe."

* * *

"Do you remember the Great Hall in the Golden Days?" skekSo asked skekLach in the tower room. Evening was approaching, the first of the three suns had already sunk below the horizon. The Emperor was resting upon high-backed chair, scepter in one hand, the other resting upon his stomach. "The music in the amphitheater, the laughter, the joy?"

"Of course I do, your majesty, they were grand times," skekLach replied diligently. He wasn't seated, instead he stood by one of the windows, watching the skeksis in the courtyard below like a hawk, but he turned away when the Emperor addressed him.

"We should have Great Hall emptied and done up once more," the Emperor continued enthusiastically. "Relive the times of old. Revive them!"  


skekLach simply nodded. This was a subject the Emperor often brought up, funny thing was though was nothing had ever been done about it. The Great Hall had been used as storage for some time now, no one went in there any more. Not to mention that there were no longer any throngs of guests to welcome in, instead there was just 13 skeksis, none of whom would dance or sing any longer. Those days were long past.  


"There is no music in the halls any more, they are silent," skekSo remarked tiredly, his eyes closed as he rested his head against the side of his chair. He would never usually leave himself so vulnerable, but they were alone and he trusted the Collector.

"Surely, you don't suggest we let skekSil sing again?" skekLach joked.

"Certainly not," the Emperor visibly flinched, then he chuckled, opening his eyes to cast a sidelong glance at the Collector. "He lost his voice long ago, no need to deafen everyone."

The Collector in turn smiled, wincing slightly as he aggravated the wounds upon his snout. The Emperor noticed.

"I still cannot believe that skekEkt bit you," he said disapprovingly. "Behavior worthy of an animal. And he usually practices such good etiquette. skekEkt must have been very fond of that outfit the hounds ruined. But you know, I don't wish to replace them, if those hounds of yours had actually killed him, well that would have been serious."

"The hounds were not after skekEkt, they must have been after those two mangy ribbon-decorated fluff-balls he dragged around with him. He was just unfortunate enough to get in the way," the Collector folded his hands decisively. "But I understand your point, my Emperor, I won't replace them."

"Oh don't be daft, Collector," the Emperor laughed. "When you put it like that, you can have as many hounds as you want. Just make sure they stay properly locked up this time."

"Thank you, your majesty," skekLach inclined his head. The Emperor flicked a hand in acknowledgement, closing his eyes he lent back to rest.

skekLach went back to looking out the window, watching as skekUng and skekTek lumbered past down below. He quickly disregarded them though, skekTek was under his control and skekUng had no known ambition or secrets to take advantage of, instead he focused on skekSil who he could see talking to skekAyuk in the courtyard, poorly hidden behind a tree. It was clear to him that they were colluding but it was impossible for him to hear them from such a distance, no matter, he would find out later, it was only a matter of time. The Gourmand had never been very good at keeping his mouth shut, what with his weakness for sweet wines and corresponding tendency to say a lot more than he meant to.  


In the distance a bell rung.

"Your royal highness," he awoke the Emperor. "The garthim have returned."

* * *

skekMal's remains, robes and weaponry were lain upon a table for skekTek to examine and the Emperor to regard. At first everyone had crowded around to have a look for themselves, but when skekSo snapped angrily at them for being too close, they had dispersed. Safer to watch the proceedings from a distance than anger the Emperor.  


skekVar was feeling uneasy as he awaited the verdict alone. The Mariner was one of the few skeksis not present, the others being skekEkt, who had been missing for most of the day, and skekShod who was likely lurking the halls in search of "forgotten" treasures whilst everyone else was occupied - skekVar had long since learnt to make it a habit to lock his door when he was not in his room, else the Treasurer might pay a visit while he was away.

The Ritual Master oversaw the scene aloofly, his new gelfling slave cowered silently by the ends of his robes. The little creature's eyes darted up to look at him nervously, then flitted away almost immediately. The Chamberlain was present too, watching the Emperor's back (and therefore skekLach's as well) intently. skekVar knew the look well, the Chamberlain as ever was plotting something.

skekSil noticed him looking and, to his great annoyance, began to approach.

"Evening, General," he said greeted smoothly. "It is a shame to see physical proof of the Hunter's demise now, isn't it?"

"I never got the impression that you cared much for skekMal," skekVar replied. "What do you want, Chamberlain?"

"Oh me? I'm not seeking anything. My only wish is to serve the Emperor loyally," skekSil replied, his smile never fading. "And honestly. Not everyone is like us, you know? Both so honest? Hmm?"

skekVar grunted, eyeing the Chamberlain suspiciously - skekSil wasn't exactly what he would call honest.

The Chamberlain didn't appear to notice though, turning his head just slightly to smile lazily at the table where skekMal's robes were being scrutinized by the Scientist.

"Do you see how he limps?" skekSil said unexpectedly, as the Scientist used his walking stick to move around to the other side of the table.

"He hasn't been able to walk properly for many trine now," skekVar couldn't care less that the skekTek could barely walk in a straight line unaided now, it meant nothing to him. "He hacked off his own leg many trine ago, the crazy twisted fool."

"Hmm, but do you know why?" skekSil gave him an oily smile, and skekVar couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. He did not trust the Chamberlain, the Mariner had warned him many times that anything he said should be taken as a possible lie or trick.

"Because he's insane," skekVar replied simply.

"Close, but not quite. He wanted to make himself stronger," skekSil shook his head, still smiling, as if amused by the idea. "But as you can see, that did not work out the way he planned, hmm? Youth is about strength and energy, isn't that what we all want? Strange how well skekLach keeps his youthfulness about him, isn't it?"

"It is just luck," skekVar replied spitefully, not understanding why the Chamberlain would compliment the Collector, it was well known that the two were long-time rivals.

skekSil's smile faded for a moment as he rolled his eyes.

"It's not just luck," he hissed irritably, then smiled unpleasantly again. "Pause for a moment, and ask yourself, why does he look youthful? And why does skekTek fear him? Hmm?"

"It is just luck," skekVar replied again, but he was now unsure.

The Chamberlain looked a bit uneasy, glancing around quickly to spot any would be spies, before saying. "Perhaps you should talk to skekTek about it. He, after all, knows more about aging than all of us." And with that, skekSil began to turn away but not before cryptically adding. "Be aware that if Collector was ever to be found out, you would be the first person he would place the blame on."

The General watched him leave as he had watched him approach, with suspicion and puzzlement. He brushed off what the Chamberlain had said and turned back to face the rest of the room.

He did not enjoy standing alone, it made him too aware of the many eyes on his back, watching his every move. The General was not a coward though, he never had been, he did not fear death! His loyalty to the Emperor had never gone unnoticed, as one of his first supporters nearly 900 trine ago when skekSo had first arisen to power, he had a reputation of being trustworthy, or at least he had until skekLach had decided to cause problems... Even so, best not to appear weak in front of the others, which standing here alone would indicate. So he sought out skekNa amongst the crowd, hoping to still convince the Slaver to replace skekMal.

skekNa was not alone though, but it was of no consequence, it was just skekUng. skekVar headed over to where the two were seated at a large table.

"General," skekUng greeted him non-committedly. "It appears your party weakens. Now what do you plan?"

"This is just a minor setback," skekVar replied, then squinted at skekNa. "But I see you're making new connections. Good thing too, skekZok isn't looking all that influential at this time. skekSo has no ear for him as long as skekLach is latched to his shoulder and skekOk flitters between alliances like a fly."

"That's dangerous talk," was skekNa's simple reply, but he looked back at skekVar calculatingly. "Are you implying that the Emperor listens to skekLach alone?"

It was a trick question, a nasty one, and skekVar was left dumbfounded as to why it had been asked. Everyone knew that the Emperor would take skekLach's word above anyone else's.

"Imagine the pure strength of a party like ours though," skekVar continued, ignoring the question. "Five of us, intelligence and strength all ours-"

"The Emperor's opinion of you grows lower by the day," skekUng spoke up abruptly, cutting him off. "I for one no longer wish to be associated with you."

skekNa snorted in agreement, drinking from a chalice and looking on as if watching a particularly interesting show.

"What nonsense is this? I am highly regarded," skekVar exclaimed, standing tall. Aware that he was being noisy, he quickly glanced back over his shoulder. The Emperor and skekLach had not noticed, but he saw that skekSil's sly gaze had slid over to inspect what the commotion was.

"How the Emperor regards you has been slipping for quite some time now," skekUng replied indifferently. "You would have to be both deaf and blind to have not noticed."

"Even if that was true, my proposal still stands," skekVar bit back his pride in a last desperate bid to win them over. "We could outmatch them, put skekLach in his place! You have no ambition of your own-"

"Is that a fact?!" skekUng barked, getting abruptly to his feet.

As they faced each other down, skekVar alarmed to find that he was actually slightly intimidated by the display. skekUng did not suffer to the extent the hunched back that many hundreds of trine had inflicted on the rest of them, it made him menacingly tall and he had never been a small skeksis to begin with. skekVar was General though, but as he stood there he couldn't help but begin to wonder if this rank was just a title and nothing more. They had never had a need for armies, no need for a general, they had never had an army until the garthim were made. Before that skekVar had simply been in charge of monitoring the gelfling palace guards, who had been little more than ornaments to begin with.

Nearby skeksis had noticed the potential showdown, the two of them squaring off, trying to stare each other down. He knew couldn't risk a fight. If he lost now he would lose everything, better to retreat and sort out the problem at another time or in a different way.

skekVar ended the exchange quickly with a snarl, simply turning and walking away. He knew the Garthim Master would not attack him with his back turned, not in such an occupied room anyway, but he also knew that in doing so he had just lost the fight, something skekUng would be unlikely to forget.

The Mariner had arrived by this time, and skekVar headed straight for him. skekSa waited patiently by a pillar, at an angle so that while he was visibly present, not everyone could see his hands. Reaching inside his outermost coat, he pulled forth what skekVar recognized to be skekMal's quiver of arrows and bow. The Mariner passed them to him quickly once he was close enough, making sure that his long trailing sleeves hid the exchange from most would-be-onlookers.  


"I collected these from the garthim as soon as they returned. Best keep these hidden," the Mariner told him, leaning upon a wooden cane. "Else skekLach will cart them away and they won't ever be seen again."

Friendship was not something openly talked about amongst the skeksis, calling another a friend was admitting a weakness, it made you only too easy to betray, to metaphorically stab in the back, too easy to hurt. But they had known each other for over 917 trine as skeksis, and within their group skekVar had definitely grown to have a sense of comradery, to the extent that he felt uncomfortable holding the weaponry of the deceased skekMal. It felt heavier than it should in his hands, and he felt overwhelmingly frustrated.

He hurriedly hid the bow and quiver within his own robes, eyes catching sight of skekZok's new gelfling watching him, and across the room so was the Collector. Had he seen the exchange?

The Emperor still seemed occupied with his conversation with skekTek, but skekLach's one working eye was locked on him. He did not even have the courtesy to look away when skekVar caught him staring, he merely smiled smugly. Even knowing that the Collector couldn't hear him from across the room, he still went back to his conversation with skekSa in hushed tones.

"skekUng has taken skekNa under his wing, and neither are interested in an alliance," he growled angrily. "He actually had the audacity to challenge me! Me! The General!"

The Mariner looked uncomfortable, but he quickly covered the expression up.

"Perhaps he wishes to take your title," skekSa replied uneasily, tapping the end of his walking stick upon the stone floor. "You should have waited until skekNa was alone before you approached him. It might not be too late, I can still talk to him later."

skekVar only heard the first few words, grinding his teeth in fury.  


"Succeed me? Hah, you must be joking. He is dull and ambitious as a rock!"

"Things aren't always as they seem," skekSa replied diligently. "skekUng has never displeased the Emperor-"

"Nor has he impressed him."

"You forget the garthim," the Mariner pointed out. "And our blades, swords and armor, they are also his creations."

"Pah, he is metal worker! A title worthy of a gelfling slave," skekVar replied dismissively. Well aware now that he had more than a couple of sets of eyes watching him, he felt overwhelmed. Making a scene now would not look good, so he promptly turned and stalked out of the room. skekSa didn't follow him, but he didn't notice.  


Once outside in the hall again, alone and left to his thoughts as he headed back to his chambers for the night, he remembered what the Chamberlain had said to him earlier. What had skekSil mean? Should he go speak to the Scientist? Did he know something about the Collector that skekVar did not? Talking to him now was not a possibility, but finding him alone another time would not be that hard. With his metal-limb, skekTek was slow, he found it hard to keep up with the other skeksis, and though he was allies with one of the most aggressive skeksis in the castle skekVar had a hard time picturing skekUng trying to defend him. To have any respect, a skeksis had to be able to fend for themselves, having another step-in to assist or protect reflected badly on both individuals.

The Chamberlain had said something about skekLach's unnaturally youthful appearance, and he was right. Whilst for the rest of them their hair had long since begun to become streaked with grey and fall out, skekLach still retained much of his natural color. Ironically the Emperor had lost nearly all his hair and actually looked more aged than the rest of them, but skekVar didn't dwell on this fact long as he lacked the curiosity as to why this was the case. But theoretically the only way to regain youth was to drink vital essence...

And then it struck him.

The vital essence shortage over 100 trine before! That had been an ongoing problem since then, but as gelfling numbers dwindled this had been expected. The essence was destined for the Emperor's consumption alone, but what if skekLach had been intercepting it? The mere thought was heresy and filled skekVar with rage, though a stain on skeksis society skekLach was loyal to the Emperor, surely? But maybe it wasn't so, skekVar was well aware of the treasonous ways his fellow skeksis often followed to benefit themselves, and he had no reason not to believe that it wouldn't be the same for the Collector.

skekTek was in charge of processing and delivering vital essence, he had to be aware if skekLach was taking the potion for himself, but if this was the case he had done nothing to stop him. Blackmail? skekVar dismissed any idea that the two might be conspiring, if such was the case the Scientist too would surely be drinking essence and there was no way he was, not with how he looked. skekTek looked even more aged than the Emperor!

"The dwindling supply of essence..." skekVar mumbled to himself as he placed the quiver of arrows and bow upon the highest shelf in his wardrobe, hiding them beneath a old robe. Filled with fury, he knew then why his reports had never been taken well by the Emperor. skekLach had been telling him the supply was low, he knew that already, but now he knew why they were low. skekLach had pinned the blame on him, and he could do it again. If the Emperor ever got suspicious skekLach would simply say that skekVar was to blame; and he knew without a doubt that the Emperor would believe him.

But what could he do?

skekVar ground his teeth and snarled, knowing that he could do nothing. He had tried everything already! But if he got evidence somehow... skekTek would no doubt gladly see skekLach banished, perhaps if he could convince him to talk...

* * *

For a while after skekVar had left, skekSa stayed where he was. Out of the corner of his eye he regarded skekUng's group in the corner of the room, now joined by skekTek who had finished his analysis of skekMal's remains. His results had been inconclusive, but the Mariner had overheard the Scientist tell the Emperor that he suspected skekMal's death to be accidental and fairly rapid. In truth, skekSa saw little hope in skekUng's newly formed group, they were unlikely to ever form an alliance with the Emperor, none of three were talented with words, and skekTek himself was more of liability than an asset - with his terror of skekLach, warped mind and physical weakness.

Instead, skekSa set his eyes on the Chamberlain's long-established group. skekEkt was missing, but the other two were there, watching and calculating the scene before them. Making up his mind, skekSa headed over to join them.

"Mariner," skekSil greeted him as if only just noticing he was there. "Good to see you. skekVar seems tense, hmm?"

"He has argued with the Garthim Master," skekSa replied without giving too much away, should this new alignment not work. "I suspect there might be a rivalry between the two."

"Hmm? You mean that his time as a General might be coming to an end?" skekSil glanced the way skekVar had left and bared his teeth in a sickly smile, he regarded the Mariner again. "I'm sure he is aware of it, and if he is wise, he will do something about it. Won't he, skekSa?"


	3. Honor

skekMal's room had been raided.

Gemstones, metals, silk and satin alike had been picked away so that the room was practically bare. The ivory mask he had once donned in his early days of hunting had been one of the first things to go, bickered over briefly before being stolen away.

skekZok had been the one to discretely take most of the gemstones for himself, and this had not gone completely unnoticed - skekShod even now was still watching him like a hungry arduff - but he had little to fear from the Treasurer. He currently had far bigger problems.

Namely his reputation.

Until recently skekZok had had unrivaled abilities as a tactician and spy. It was he who had, through careful planning and meticulous work, bred the crystal bats that spied for the empire; without his work the garthim would not have been nearly as successful in locating and eliminating the gelflings as they were. With skekNa by his side, he had covered not only the air but the land with all its nooks and crannies. The Slave Master being one of the only few who had learnt soul-speech in the early days when gelflings had still been abundant and eager to teach their secrets.

Only now skekNa had switched alliances and was no longer going to cooperate, and without the Emperor's direct orders, skekZok was powerless to stop him. He had foreseen something like this might happen in the past, and many times he had tried to bribe the Slave Master into teaching his soul-speech, but skekNa had always slyly refused.

So now he had to substitute. All gelflings were naturally capable of soul-speech, some better than others. His new acquired slave was young and its soul-speech would probably not be the best, but to an extent it could substitute skekNa's ability.

At the table, as the morning meal was served by the slaves, more skeksis appeared and settled down into their respective seats.

"skekVar looks angry," skekOk muttered quietly as he sat down in a chair beside him.

The Ritual Master turned to look.

skekVar sat alone, the seats either side of him empty. He kept shooting disgusted looks towards where the Chamberlain was seated, this reason of this became apparent when skekZok noticed that the Mariner was sitting in the Ornamentalist's usual seat - skekEkt himself was currently no where to be seen. But he noticed that this was not the only thing skekVar was doing – the General was also watching the Scientist intently out of the corner of his eye. skekTek himself had not noticed that he was being watched as he in turn was too busy keeping an eye on skekLach, but skekZok saw all. And he was curious as to what was going on.

Once breakfast was over, skekTek hurried away. A minute or so passed before skekVar also left the table and followed after him. skekZok himself did not follow them, but he watched until they were out of sight.

* * *

skekVar strode into the Chamber of Life once he was sure skekTek was alone, determined to get answers. The Scientist noticed him immediately, freezing up and stumbling backward in surprise, then he shook himself and glared.

"What?" the Scientist snapped. "What do you want?! Speak or leave!"

He sounded angry, but skekVar could see that skekTek was actually afraid – the way in which one hand reached for the table to keep himself balanced, the nervous darting of his eyes in search of an exit.

Not being one for elaborate words or charm, skekVar got straight to the point of his visit.

"I need to talk to you about skekLach."

skekTek's eyed widened. "What about skekLach?"

"What do you know about him?" skekVar asked.

"Only what everyone else knows. What else could I know about him?" skekTek had regained some of his composure, and he was no longer leaning against the table. "It would be treasonous to even consider that he might have done something wrong."

"So he has done something wrong?"

"I never said that! Don't put words in my beak," and just like that skekTek looked as if he wanted to run again. "Why else would you be asking me about him if you were not after something that might damage his reputation? Well, you will find nothing here! Now get out!"

"Watch what you say, I outrank you," skekVar snarled threateningly. "Now listen here, you quivering quack, I have an idea that could benefit the both of us if only you cooperate!"

"I have done nothing that would upset his majesty!" squawked skekTek. "I want nothing to do with any foolish _ideas_ you might have!"

"I have reason to believe **_he_ ** has been stealing essence from the Emperor's supplies."

"That's a lie!"

"If the Emperor knew, what do you think would happen? The Collector would be banished, we would both benefit. All you have to do is tell the Emperor _exactly_ what _he_ 's been doing."

skekTek gave him an incredulous look and promptly started laughing.

"If anyone told the Emperor something like that, do you honestly think he would believe them for even a second?!" he howled in laughter, then abruptly he stopped and narrowed his eyes at skekVar. "And do you honestly think that for one second I would risk my own neck to help you? If he questioned me, I would tell him that it was YOU who was stealing essence from me! And do you know what? He would believe me, because he would rather see you gone than accept that his favourite is a tra-"

Abruptly skekTek yelped, his eyes widening at some sight skekVar could not see. The General turned around quickly, and spotted skekLach standing in the arched doorway, watching them intently with a poisonous smile on his face.

"General, hmm, the Ritual Master said you would be down here," the Collector turned and gave the trembling Scientist an unpleasant smile. "skekTek, you look pale, perhaps you are unwell."

The Scientist didn't answer, merely ducking his head and trying to look as if he wasn't there.

"skekLach," skekVar addressed the Collector respectively as he could, casting only a disgusted look skekTek's way, he hurriedly tried to leave the room.

"General," skekLach stopped him with a simple wave of his hand. "Don't scurry off so fast. I'm here because the Emperor wishes to speak to you."

"What about?" skekVar ignored the jibe, he felt apprehensive. The Chamberlain's words from the previous day rung in his head, what if the Collector had told the Emperor that it was he, skekVar, who had been stealing essence? It would be his banishment for sure if the Emperor would believe such a lie – and skekVar didn't doubt that he would, not with skekLach hanging over his shoulder.

"You have an assignment, a field job," skekLach smiled infuriatingly. "Follow me, he is waiting for you, brother."

"Don't call me that," skekVar snarled furiously. "You are no brother of mine!"

skekLach gave him a confused look, surprised at his sudden anger. Then he simply smirked and led the way back up the spiralling staircase towards the upper floors.

The throne room was already occupied when they got there. The Chamberlain was talking to the Emperor whom looked openly disinterested in what skekSil had to say. The Gourmand and the Ornamentalist were also present, and were at the far end of the room, arguing quietly between themselves.

"-how else would the crawlies have gotten into my workshop?!" skekEkt accused the Gourmand.

"They scurried there?" skekAyuk suggested. "I don't see what the problem is, crawlies are harmless."

"You imbecile! They eat silk!"

This inane conversation came to an abrupt halt as they noticed the arrival of the General and Collector. skekAyuk, always one to read situations quickly, immediately began to lumber off. skekEkt wasn't fast enough. And the Collector headed straight for him, a nasty smile on his face.

skekVar decided he didn't care about what skekLach had to say to skekEkt, and headed towards the throne, and he would have stood before the Emperor and bowed if the Chamberlain hadn't been in the way. Fortunately for him, skekSo wasted no time in dismissing him.

"That will be enough," he said dismissively, cutting off skekSil mid-sentence, turning to face skekVar instead - and missing the glare the Chamberlain sent him. "General, it appears that I am in need of your services.

"Of course, your majesty," skekVar bowed low. "What is it that you would have me do?"

"You know of the garthim that went missing in the mountains a few days ago, correct?" skekSo said boredly. "The Crystal Bats have found them. It would seems they were dismantled beyond repair. You will be charged with retrieving as much of the scrap metal as you can. Take with you a contingent of functioning garthim, but you are to leave them at the foot of the mountain, I do not want any further losses of valuable resources."

skekVar was shocked. Leave the castle? With the exception of Mal, no skeksis had willingly left the castle in over 200 trine now! In fact, this sort of reconnaissance mission would have been left to the Hunter in the past.

"Is there a problem, General?" the Emperor questioned, an odd look in his eye.

Perhaps he was being paranoid.

"Your majesty, surely you could send the podlings?" he said before he could stop himself.

"Podlings would not know where to go in the mountains, and it is dangerous terrain," skekSo answered irritably. "They would likely died before they reached their goal."

"But, sire-"

"ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME?!" skekSo abruptly roared, infuriated. "I gave you an order! Go to skekOk, he has the maps you will need! I-"

The Emperor was wracked by a violent coughing fit, enough to cause him to crash backwards and strike his head against the throne. skekSo cursed and growled, even as he continued to cough he turned to skekLach whom had hurried over.

"Bring me skekTek!" he choked, clawing at the arms of his throne. "Bring me that deceitful old fraud! Providing me with substandard essence!"

skekVar bowed low to the Emperor and turned to leave.

But was stopped.

"General, you once offered me your sword long ago as proof of your loyalty," the Emperor sneered. "I want it now, you are to leave it here! Prove yourself worthy of your title, return from your mission successful, and only then will you get it back. Else I find someone more worthy of your title."

* * *

"Maps," skekOk said simply, placing the scrolls upon the table and staring intently up at him. skekVar knew that look, the calculating look of a predator, skekOk thought he smelt weakness.

The General deliberately brought both hands down upon the table abruptly, startling the Scroll Keeper. Thinking the better of it, the smaller skeksis quickly corrected his glasses and scurried off.

skekVar spread the map upon the table, its worn edges crinkling beneath his hands. Angrily he began to plot out a path, locating the site the Emperor had specified on the map. His irritation grew as he realized it was not a simple day trip, but calculated the whole journey would take a minimum of three days! Three days out of the crystal's light… skekVar didn't consider him particularly frail, he knew he would survive, but the trip would certainly be unpleasant.

In the Golden Age, when the skeksis had needed to travel long distances, they had had carriages drawn by short narrow-legged beasts to take them. But the wood of these carriages had long since rotten away, the metallic spokes of the wheels melted down into garthim metal and the old beasts that had been used to draw the carriages had been slaughtered and put into a stew many years before.

The idea of traveling on foot was unthinkable though, even though skekVar had done it in the earliest of times as a skeksis it was not something he would consider now. skekVar mused he could bolt some garthim to draw a cart of sorts, it would have to do. He was not skekMal, he refused to walk.

Then he shuddered anew, instinctively, as he spotted where the mountains lay, located directly by the side of the Valley of the Mystics.

The urru were lumbering and unpredictable beasts, whom had sealed themselves away many hundreds of trine before. Crystal bats and garthim alike could not reach them in their valley, no one knew exactly why but it was suspected it had something to do with the strange wall stone pillars situated around its edges that the urru themselves had placed there. Any garthim that passed this barrier immediately fell to pieces, any crystal bat that passed - while they did not die - lost the ability to transmit their view back to the castle. It was a blank space, a dark spot, into which the skeksis could not see.

And it was unsettling.

skekVar sneered at himself and went back to picking out the quickest route, he had no reason to fear the urru, as disturbing as they were. They had never proven to be dangerous, if anything they were cowardly and dim-witted. And he would not even have to see them, they never left their valley after all.

But they were the skeksis' greatest weakness because of how easy would be to fell. And if an urru was killed then so would a skeksis die.

The Valley of the Mystics, a gash in the land where the skeksis' weakness lay.

Weakness...

skekLach.

skekLach had to have a urru, just as they all did. It was his weakness, as it was in all skeksis, and in the darkness that was the Valley of the Mystics, there would be no one to see if this counterpart was hurt, no one to see them fall.

No one would know what had happened.

No one would even see it happen.

skekLach could not be removed by normal means, twisted and tricked into earning the ire of the Emperor, with no chance of getting him banished, the only way to deal with him was for him to completely cease to exist.

skekLach had to die.

It would be for the good of the empire.

* * *

As far as anyone was concerned, skekVar was doing exactly as the Emperor had ordered. After a lengthy shaky and night, in which he could barely sleep for the jolting of the small cart every time the garthim went over a rock or obstacle, he finally reached the edge of the forest at the base of the mountain. Here, as the suns began to approach their zenith, he called for the garthim to stop. Clicking and creaking they sunk down upon the ground, and were still and quiet as statues.

skekVar pushed himself off the cart and landed heavily upon his feet, his joints protesting from the strain. Shaking it off, he turned around and began to prepare himself for the job ahead of him. Checking the sky for crystal bats first, he then pulled forth a bag hidden beneath a thick blanket, in which barely visible was the glinting of the jewels upon the decorated end of skekMal's prized bow.

"I am doing the honorable thing," he told himself as he adjusted skekMal's bow and arrows upon his back, and as an afterthought he then pulled his cape up and over them so they were out of sight. "This is the solution, this will be the end. Balance will be restored to the castle, no need for the honorable to live in fear."

There was a very low chance he would be caught, he reassured himself, as the Skeksis Empire had no way of spying on the Valley of the Mystics. His main concern was being witnessed out in the open before he reached the valley. He didn't want to be banished, not like skekGra had been all those years ago, fated to turn to dust in the wilderness, out of sight and forgotten. Or skekLi, after refusing to leave the castle once banished, the tiny skeksis had been publically beaten by skekSo himself. Practically dead, they had tied skekLi to a wild animal and sent it running into the wilderness, the Satirist was never seen again.

Snarling to himself, skekVar then did exactly opposite to what the Emperor had told him to do. He detached the garthim from the cart and sent them into the mountains alone, then turning away, towards where he could see a small spiral of smoke, he headed for the Valley of the Mystics on foot.

It was a relief when he finally passed the row of pillars that surrounded the valley, for he knew now that no crystal bat could spy on him now. Below him lay the valley, a gash in the mountains where the urru hid.

A light mist had begun to form, making it harder to see the entirety of the valley, skekVar feared that he might lose his way if he wasn't careful.

Despite his unease, he found his way down into the valley easily, the urru having carved out a series of smooth sloping paths that ran around the valley edge.

He spotted several of them from the height of the pathway as he descended into the valley, they were dotted about the place seemingly at random, many gazing up at the sky and running theirs fingers through sand. It seemed quite clear to him that every single one of them was insane. For what other reason would they willingly lounge around in the dirt?

Reaching the base of the cliff, without the added height of the pathway, he no longer had an overview of the valley, or any of the urru. skekVar thought about following the edge of the cliff so that he wouldn't become disorientated, but decided against it, fearing the rocks overheard might fall down upon him. Determinedly he looked around, and saw rock, sand, and vegetation. Through the vegetation was a dusty pathway, unpaved but well-worn, weaving through the plants that grew wild and unchecked in the valley.

Frowning to himself, he moved forward, pushing his way along the narrow path.

Too narrow for the breadth of his robes.

Did these urru creatures have no respect for themselves? He sneered as thorny grasses caught and snagged at the ends of his cape and robes, some becoming embedded in the cloth, strands of vegetation were dragged along behind him.

Up ahead of him what appeared to be a large sandy boulder blocked the pathway, he was just beginning to wonder whether he should climb over it or go around it when it began to move on its own, turning around to face him.

Stopping in his tracks, skekVar by reflexively reached for the handle of his sword, a method of reassurance. He only remember that his sword was still back at the castle with the Emperor when his hand closed on empty space.

The crouched urru looked up at him with its dark featureless eyes, a wooden staff grasped in one pair of hands, completely silent.

skekVar stared back at the beast warily. His gaze jumping from the staff in its hands to its dusty robes to its strange twisted face.

It was irrational, and he hated himself for it, but skekVar found himself somewhat fearful of the urru. This one he could currently see was larger than he was, and he knew there were many others just like it nearby.

But they were also unarmed, wore little in the way of armour and they couldn't attack him without hurting one of their own.

The urru still made no move to speak, and it made no attempt to move out of the pathway either, simply staring back at him silently. Realising that the urru was unlikely to anything, skekVar looked the creature over more thoroughly, mainly focusing on the number of eyes and arms it had.

He counted two and four. So he knew this was not skekLach's counterpart.

The urru tilted its head to one side curiously. He snarled back at it and sidestepped off the path, trampling his way through the grass and vegetation to get past the urru.

As he moved further down the valley he passed more urru, and to his increasing alarm he found that as each urru he passed became aware of his presence they too in turn looked up to watch him. He could practically feel all their questioning eyes upon his back.

_'What I do is honorable and just,'_ he told himself, one hand resting upon the dagger hidden beneath the outermost layer of his robes, his steps becoming more hurried. _'It is for the good of the empire, even if it means no one may ever know who brought this about, of what a heroic deed I do today, it will be worth it. It is for the good of the empire.'_

He knew he could not afford to fight here. One of these lumbering beasts was his own urru, he could quite literally end up hurting himself if he struck at any of them.

But which of these slow lumbering beasts was skekLach's? He didn't even know which was his own, and they all looked the same!

The current urru he was looking at was missing a leg, and was balancing the weight on the right side of its body with two of its four arms, one of which was twisted and withered. skekVar knew this was skekTek's urru, and he briefly thought of striking it across the face as revenge for the Scientist's refusal to help him – but he decided against it.

There was the sound of rough cloth being dragged upon the ground, skekVar looked up as two new urru came to a stop beside the path, watching him. One was missing an eye, and when he counted its arms he saw only three.

The urru standing beside the maimed individual moved forward two steps and settled between him and the other, giving skekVar a fixed stare. For a moment the General wondered if this was his urru counterpart looking back at him.

How he was going to go about this? Would the other urru attack him if he killed this urru? Surely not, they would be hurting one of their own…but he wasn't convinced and looked around at the gathered urru uneasily. Had there been this many a minute before? Like ghosts, out of the mist they had appeared, a semi-circle of perhaps 6 urru now stood around him.

He drew the hidden dagger forth and swiped angrily at the air.

"Keep back!" he bellowed at them. He looked back to the maimed one, now partially hidden behind the urru that had moved to stand in front of it. "Dim-witted beasts!"

He had planned to shoot skekLach's urru, but with the other urru standing firmly in place he would not be able to get a clear shot. And using a dagger would be too messy. If he got blood on his robes then he would have to explain himself when he got back to the castle.

skekVar considered simply strangling his rival's counterpart.

It was in that moment though, the maimed urru chose to lean to one side, leaning the side of its head upon its walking staff, and skekVar realised that its missing limb and eye were on opposite sides of its body. They were not both on the left as skekLach's were.

This urru was not skekLach's at all, it was the Slave Master's.

A panicky feeling fluttered briefly in his chest at the near butchery of his plan, it would have been terrible to return to the castle only to find he had killed the wrong skeksis by accident. But skekVar quickly crushed this feeling of uncertainty with thoughts of skekLach's demise, and turned to inspect the gathered urru again.

None of them were the one he was after.

Then one of them spoke.

"I know why you are here," said the largest of the urru, startling him with its voice - and it haunted him how familiar the voice sounded, how the language was the same as his own, from so long ago. "It is an unwise path that you follow, it may not end well for you."

"You say _may not_ ," skekVar replied harshly. "Therefore you do not truly know! I am here for a valiant reason, I care not for you misguided words! Cotton brain!"

Not bothering to hide the reason he was there any longer, skekVar put the dagger away and swung the bow off his back, holding it aloft like a club in his hands, a threat to any who dared venture near him.

But none of the urru moved from where they were.

Snarling at them again, he turned back to the path and continued on his way. But the urru were persistent and he soon realized, slowly but surely, they were following after him. skekVar pretended not to see them, as he did the other urru that soon joined the procession.

The 6 urru following skekVar were soon 8, soon afterwards 10, and none were the one he was after.

Up ahead there was a fork in the road, where two more urru sat side by side, but neither were the one he was after.

skekVar was about to take the right turn in the path, and head deeper into the valley where he could see more greenery and hear the distant rushing of water, but that was when the two sitting urru began to move. One turned to follow after him as the rest had done, but the other began to shuffle off in the opposite direction, pace markedly more hurried than he had seen in the rest.

skekVar stopped and stood still for several minutes, watching the urru amble away until it was out of sight, and then he turned away from the path he was following and hurried after it, immediately suspicious.

He could have sworn one of the urru behind him made some strange strangled noise of distress, but perhaps he had just imagined it. It didn't matter, they were powerless to stop him.

The path up ahead came to an abrupt halt, opening out onto more rocky ground, stony but scattered with a few plants at the base of a steep cliff. The rocky ground here was smooth, it felt oddly like the castle floor beneath his feet. The ground inclined to a shallow slope, dipping gently into a small cove filled with sand.

Much of the sand here had been drawn into circular spiraling patterns that made skekVar dizzy to look at, elsewhere there were piles of rock meticulously arranged, some situated around the sand paintings, but what purpose they served the General couldn't care less, what did interest him though was the urru crouched alone at one end of the cove, seemingly in a deep trance. He could see from here that it was missing the lower half of one of its left arms, the distinctive scar across its left eye a dead give-away.

He had found urSen.

The urru that he had followed here was no longer anywhere to be seen, but skekVar disregarded this, it didn't matter, he had found his quarry now.

He drew an arrow from the quiver on his back without hesitation, swinging the bow up to shoulder height and notching the arrow.

The urru finally looked up, turning around to gaze back at him in the same blank manner as the others had done.

If urru anatomy was anything like that of skeksis or gelfling he knew the vital shot would be situated towards the upper chest, towards the neck. skekVar had fired a bow before, as the General he had made it his duty to test every weapon, he knew his aim would be true.

"VarMa, do you not remember me?" the beast inquired as he took aim. It spread one pair of arms to him, as if to take his weapon from him, or perhaps embrace him.

For just split second skekVar faltered, the truth was he did remember LachSen. Fragments of memories, shattered like glass, of a tall billowing smiling, smug figure. Other emotions too, none of them pleasant, of rage, jealousy and rivalry.

He was not VarMa, and this deluded creature was not LachSen.

' _Long live the Skeksis Empire_ ,' he said to himself as he pulled the string.

"Do not do this," said another voice much closer to him than he had anticipated, large hands gently but firmly took hold of his arm as if to wrestle the bow off him, but it was too late, skekVar never lost his resolve.

He fired the arrow.

Immediately he then swerved around and struck the urru who had taken hold of his arm with the end of the bow.

And instantly felt a crushing blow against his own face.

The bow clattered to the ground as skekVar staggered back to get away from the urru, snarling and cursing. His own bruised face telling him that it was urMa, his own urru, who had tried to stop him.

"Why would you do this?" urMa said to him, but despite this it paid no further heed to him. Slowly it began to plod towards where urSen still stood, arms no longer outstretched. The urru was wincing, one hand reaching up towards the arrow lodged deep in his chest. But despite the surely grievous wound, urSen was silent in his pain.

Detached, he observed.

"I have told my tale," urSen said quietly, and then repeated this several times beneath his breath, before – without a sign of fear or anger – he collapsed upon the ground.

...

Warm sunlight was streaming through the windows into the hallway, the scent of wine and the rich sauce that had been served at lunch was still thick in the air. The Emperor of the skeksis, still weighed down from the midday feast, felt relaxed as he made his way towards the inner courtyard, skekLach following a few steps behind him.

"…skekUng complains of contaminants weakening the metal he now uses," the Collector was reading off a report the Chamberlain had handed in earlier that day. "He says the continuous recycling of old metal is reducing its quality, making it more likely to break. He suggests we prospect for a new mine."

"There is nothing that can be done about that now," skekSo replied dismissively. "He can wait another hundred trine, then with the empire revitalised, when the Great Conjunction comes again, we will see about prospecting for new mines."

skekSo knew metal was valuable nowadays. Hollowed empty the mines below the castle had collapsed some 100 trine before. Now when metal wore down or became rusted they had to melt it down and reforge it. Like in the earliest days as skeksis, when they had had to resort to melting down cutlery and anything metal in the castle they could find to make armour, this problem only resolved once they had the gelflings under their influence. But now the mines were gone, and so practically were the gelflings.

It was just one problem of many that would be sorted once the Great Conjunction came again.

He heard the Collector make a joke about sending the Garthim Master out to find the mines himself, and then he said something about the Scientist being of use, but skekSo wasn't certain exactly what he said, as his mind had been elsewhere, daydreaming of the revival of the empire.

"Could you repeat that, skekLach?"

Behind him he heard the Collector stumble and choke.

"skekLach?" the Emperor questioned, noticing that the Collector was no longer following him. He stopped and turned. "Is something the matter?"

skekLach didn't respond in words, swaying he simply gave the Emperor one defiant last look, then collapsed against the wall, clutching at his chest.

"skekLach!" skekSo looked down upon the Collector with dawning horror, he could see blood now. The Collector was gasping and snarling, still alive but in terrible pain.

For the first time in nearly a 1000 trine, skekSo found himself powerless to do anything, dignity and years of habit dictated that he retained his control and move decisively, but suddenly none of that seemed like it mattered.

"skekTek!" he roared. "Someone get me skekTek!"

Other skeksis arrived there a lot sooner, and there they stood, observing the scene, whispering behind their hands and talking quietly below their breath. None of them offered help and the Emperor never thought to ask them.

He was knelt beside skekLach, having overturned the Collector to try to find the cause of the issue himself. He even resorted to pressing down over the wound to try and staunch the bleeding, this had obviously pained skekLach as he had thrashed around a lot at first, but since then he had barely moved.

And now he was barely breathing.

skekTek finally arrived, slowed significantly by his prosthetic leg. He knelt at skekLach's side once the Emperor gestured wildly for him to do so, and inspected the Collector silently, quickly, nervously.

skekSo found himself growing increasingly infuriated by the gathering of skeksis standing around the scene, their hushed whispering sounding impossibly loud to his ears. Their presence claustrophobic in the narrow hallway.

"Do you serve a purpose in standing there?!" he bellowed at them. "Get out!"

Fearful of his wrath, the other skeksis wasted no time in clearing the room, but they didn't go far.

skekLach had gone limp, skekSo looked furiously at skekTek.

"Do something!" he demanded.

"Sire, there is nothing I can do," skekTek replied, his voice cracking in fear. "His wounds are internal, he's punctured a lung, and it may be even worse than that!"

skekSo grabbed hold of the cloth around the Scientist's neck and shook him fiercely.

"I don't care! You're the Scientist! Heal him!" he demanded again.

"I'm not a healer! Sire, please," skekTek pleaded, managing to struggle free of the Emperor's grasp. "I will do what I can!" He barked an order at some nearby podlings for them to retrieve some equipment from his laboratory, but skekSo knew how slow they would be.

"Never mind them!" he roared. "Chamberlain! Chamberlain, where are you?! Come here!"

But skekSil never appeared.

skekSo shouted again, this time for skekZok, who stepped back into the hallway immediately. He gave the order to the Ritual Master, sending him to do the podlings' job of collecting skekTek's equipment, ending the order with a threat that sent skekZok hurrying from the room in the most undignified way.

skekLach eyes were still open, looking listlessly up towards the ceiling, the light slowly fading from them.

"No! You cannot leave! I will not allow it! That's an order, you hear me," he shouted, trying to get the limp form of the Collector to sit up.

But there was nothing that could be done.

By the time the Ritual Master was back with skekTek's order, skekLach had crumbled to dust in the Emperor's arms.

For a while he was silent, in disbelief he clutched at the robes tighter as the charred and crumbled remains fell loosely upon the floor. skekZok was torn between hurrying away and staying, as Ritual Master it was his duty to carry out the ceremonies that would ferry the dead on their journey, but this was no ordinary death and he had reasons to fear for his own life.

skekTek meanwhile, had watched skekLach fade away with detached glee, but he too now realized the danger that this situation presented.

"Sire," he began, getting shakily to his feet.

It was the wrong thing to do.

skekSo moved quickly, he got to his feet and swung violently at skekTek, sending the Scientist crashing into the wall.

"You failed me, skekTek!" he roared, advancing again even as the Scientist struggled to his feet. "Get out of my sight!"

Stumbling, staggering and gasping for breath, skekTek fled for his life.

skekSo didn't follow him, he simply looked down at skekLach's robes once more. Then to the confusion of everyone watching, he gathered the robes up in his arms, shaking, turned back to the hallway and continued on his way towards the courtyard, just as he had been doing mere minutes before.

As if nothing had happened, as if nothing had changed.

And to skekOk the Scroll Keeper, who had been hiding in an adjacent stairwell, he could have sworn he heard the Emperor muttering to himself about metal and mines.

* * *


	4. Eyes

The Collector's robes and remains were found abandoned in one of the inner courtyards.

They were found by the Scroll Keeper, after the rest of the skeksis – all hissing and shoving – had gotten him to follow after the deranged Emperor.

skekSo himself though had vanished.

For perhaps an hour or so no one knew where he was, but then, like a dark cloud, the Emperor came storming back into the throne room where most of them had gathered in his absence.

He was in a state of inconsolable fury. Anyone that so much looked his way was immediately accused of some form of treachery or failure.

A distinct atmosphere of unease filled the castle, they all sensed the danger. And they had all seen what had happened to skekTek an hour before after he had disappointed the Emperor.

The Scientist himself was not amongst those gathered in the throne room. After being so violently struck by the Emperor he had fled.

Limp more pronounced as he hurried, he had staggered down the winding staircase to his laboratory, clutching at the wall all the way. As soon as he was back in relative safety of the Chamber of Life, he made his way over to his chair and collapsed into it, the worn leather and metal creaking below his weight.

skekTek, out of the sight of the others, openly grimaced at the pain he felt in his old bones. His already damaged right arm now pained him every time he moved it, his ribs felt bruised and his lower jaw was in agony.

Carefully prodding around his mouth with the shaking fingers of one hand he found to his relief that his jaw was not broken, but felt the sharp edges of broken teeth and the stinging pain from where they had cracked.

He hissed and cursed his luck, sinking back against the chair again, just trying to catch his breath as his thoughts buzzed frantically in his head.

Perhaps only minutes had passed, perhaps hours, but he was awoken abruptly by a loud thump upon his desk. Startled awake he nearly fell out of his chair, many years of living in fear taught him to be on alert - it took him several shuddering breaths to remember that skekLach was no longer alive.

Instead - looking very out of place in the cluttered laboratory – it was the Ritual Master. And in front of skekZok, thrown upon the desk, were robes which he immediately recognised as having belonged to skekLach.

"The Emperor wants you examine these," skekZok said simply, while glancing with unabashed disgust at the nearest cage that was overspilling with straw and fur.

Without a further word, the Ritual Master then turned and swept back up the stairwell.

skekTek sneered after skekZok in annoyance. Still in pain, he pushed himself to his feet and then turned to face the job that he had been given.

He worked tirelessly, filled with fear and dread. His jaw and right shoulder was still hurting him badly but until he had finished the Emperor's work he dared not stop.

Not a trained biologist by any means of the word, skekTek knew that his predecessor, TekTih had been an astronomer with training in physics and math, while his knowledge in chemistry had been garnered second-hand from Aughra in the first 1000 trine stay. All his current knowledge in biology was self-taught and done mostly by trial and error.

Even so, with the amount of blood, it was immediately clear to skekTek that the wound had been inflicted externally. Though strangely enough, there was no entry point in the robes that would have been indicative that the Collector had been stabbed. Which led to only one conclusion,: it was skekLach's counterpart that been the one fatally wounded, and as a result he had taken the Collector down with him.

With the inevitable lack of a body, it was near impossible for skekTek to guess at what sort of implement had fatally wounded the Collector, all he had was the bloodied robes and they were not much to go on.

There was a radial pattern to the distribution of the blood, likely indicative of something pointed and localized rather than say the slash of a sword or the crushing blow of a rockfall. It was still a shaky hypothesis, but it was one he realized he would have go with – telling the Emperor that he couldn't be sure of anything was unthinkable!

It was better to bluff and hope.

The next step from there was to work out how skekLach's urru might have wounded himself in such a way. skekTek thought about this in silence for a long time before he finally went to the Emperor to present his findings.

When he finally limped into the throne room he found it quiet but full of milling and muttering skeksis, and over it all the Emperor could be heard snarling something at the Chamberlain, who stood before him cowering. Everyone was there. They all wanted to know what had happened.

Hesitantly he began to amble across the room towards the Emperor, doing his best not to tremble in the tyrant's presence. skekSo didn't even notice him though until he was standing right in front of him, fanged beak snapping accusingly as he turned to stare the Scientist down with his deathly pale gaze.

"Your majesty," skekTek quickly bowed low as his artificial leg would allow him, shoulders shaking from the strain as he lent on his cane. "I have finished my examination."

"Well, what have you found?" the Emperor snarled fiercely. "What killed skekLach?!"

"His urru was stabbed, sire," skekTek replied clearly. "The wound was singular and deep. Perhaps his urru fell upon a broken branch, much the way skekMal did, but I am almost certain that this is not the case."

The other skeksis murmured amongst themselves curiously at the suggestion, but the Emperor just glared impatiently, so skekTek hastily continued his explanation.

"As the wound was deep enough to cause near instant death, and that it was localized to the top of the chest, I believe that skekLach's urru was killed deliberately. Someone, or something, either stabbed him once with a blade or he was shot with an arrow."

The Emperor looked shocked, even the other skeksis in the court ceased their hushed whispering for a moment. Then almost immediately they looked amongst themselves nervously and uncertainly.

"But who could do such a thing?" skekSo barked disbelievingly. "The urru never leave their valley, and no one ever ventures there!" Then the Emperor then seemed to remember something, and his eyes widened in horror. "We lost skekMal less than a week ago, and now we lose skekLach? Could the urru be killing themselves?!"

There were several gasps of horror from amongst the crowd, implications of such a possibility was terrifying. If the urru decided to kill themselves then there would be little the skeksis could do to stop them.

"I don't think so, sire," skekTek replied hastily before the panic could get out of control. "skekMal robes were torn. He was the one wounded through which his urru died indirectly, whereas with skekLach I believe it was the other way around. Just an unfortunate coincidence..."

"We still do not know what killed skekMal," skekSo pointed out. "What if there is someone behind these deaths? Who would betray us in such a way? Or seek our destruction? Could it be one of you?" The Emperor paused to look accusingly amongst the other skeksis, his gaze lingering on the Chamberlain a little longer than the others.

skekSil noticed the look and glanced worriedly at his allies, the Ornamentalist and the Gourmand. Also standing with them was the Mariner, skekSa, who would normally be standing by skekVar's side. But skekVar was absent from the gathering because he had been assigned away from the castle-

And then it clicked. skekTek froze on the post as he realised what had happened to skekLach. It was so clear to him, it was so OBVIOUS!

But he said nothing.

He didn't yet dare.

"Perhaps it was the gelflings," skekSil suggested, thinking that he saw a chance to appear useful. "There were gelflings in the wood where skekMal met his end. If they could make their way to the valley, and if they no longer fear the urru-"

"Then this would be YOUR fault!" the Emperor bellowed. "You convinced the gelfling many centuries ago that the urru were dangerous and not to be trusted! If the gelflings have turned violent, then they will view the urru as enemies! They might not know of the connection between us, but it won't matter! skekZok! Send the crystal bats to scout the outskirts of the valley! And skekUng, send your garthim too! Make sure nothing gets in or out of that valley alive!"

With everyone else milling around in a panic, and the Emperor's rage focused elsewhere, skekTek took his leave, limping and shuffling as discretely as he could from the room.

And then, as soon as he was out of the Emperor's earshot, he began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" asked a gruff voice.

Still anxious, the Scientist spun on his heel, staggering briefly as he braced himself against his walking stick again to keep his balance. But it was just skekUng, the Garthim Master had followed him out of the throne room. skekNa the Slave Master trailing behind him.

"Hn, to put it simply," he said rather loudly, still finding it hard not to laugh. "They are all idiots!"

skekUng's eyes widened in surprise at the insult, then he scowled at him in warning. Slowly he turned to look back towards the throne room. But it appeared that no one had heard the Scientist, not if the ongoing shouting in the throne room was anything to go by.

"Are you suicidal?!" skekUng growled at him. "Why would you say that aloud?!"

"I know who killed skekLach!" the Scientist hissed quietly, he bowed his head apologetically and watched the Garthim Master with apprehension. "It's so obvious! The Collector's urru was killed AND skekVar is no where near the castle!? A coincidence? He hated skekLach!"

"So did everyone else," skekUng replied dismissively, but he looked interested in the idea. "It could be a coincidence."

"He came to me the day he was sent out, demanding that I tell the Emperor of skekLach's treachery!" skekTek scoffed at the idea. "As if I wouldn't have done so many trine ago if I could!"

The Garthim Master considered this, while skekNa merely looked impatient.

"Do you have any other evidence than your word?" skekUng asked.

"Well, no-" skekTek began to explain.

"Then keep your mouth shut," the Garthim Master cut him off sharply. "But keep this idea of yours in mind when skekVar returns, it might be of use to us. An opportunity will present itself. We may be able to recruit the General."

The three of them all looked up at the sound of skittering of claws.

There was a blur of furry wings as a reptilian creature darted into the hallway, leapt upwards and took to the air. Sweeping past them it flew down the hallway and out the first window it reached.

skekTek watched the creature disappear from sight with alarm. skekUng was less concerned.

"It's just one of skekNa's spies," he growled. "Stop trembling, you worm!"

Beside them though, the Slaver snorted.

"It _IS_ one of my spies," he confirmed with a sneer. "But I don't remember sending it out..."

* * *

The crystal bats could not reveal much. As soon as they swept within close range of the valley, the image of the crystal in their claws faded away and vanished, leaving skekZok the Ritual Master gazing into an empty shadow in the heart of the crystal.

This was to be expected, the urru stones surrounding the valley prevented any crystal bat to peer in, but it wasn't enough to convince the Emperor who took the excuse to shunt the Ritual Master in the chest with the sceptre, nearly knocking him down in the process.

"Useless old bag of bones," he snarled. "Why are you so incapable!? I should have you replaced, you old fraud!"

The Ritual Master's blustered apology was drowned out as the Emperor abruptly turned to snarl at the Chamberlain who had been following close behind him.

"What are you doing?" he snapped as the Chamberlain stumbled backwards. "Do you think because the Collector is dead that I will simply turn to you for advice?"

"Of course not, sire-"

"Do you really think that you could just fill his position?!"

"Please, sire-" he pleaded.

"Perhaps you were somehow responsible for his death," skekSo advanced towards him, brandishing the sceptre like a club. "You were always so jealous of him..."

"Never, sire never!" skekSil backed away, eyes wide with fear. "I wasn't worthy, there is nothing that I could have done! I would never have hurt him!"

"I suppose you are too incompetent to have been able to do anything," the Emperor agreed viciously. "You've always proven useless, in every aspect…"

"Yes, useless," the Chamberlain agreed, half bowing half cowering, he didn't dare move from where he stood. But it seemed to work, skekSo grew disinterested, and turned his venomous gaze upon skekOk who was lurking at the fringes of the gathering. With another snarl, the Emperor stormed off to confront the Scroll-Keeper.

As soon as he was gone, skekSil shook in shame and fury. But he covered it up quickly, not even scowling as he turned and moved over to where he could see his allies waiting for him.

skekAyuk and skekEkt had watched everything from the side-lines in silence. skekSa the Mariner, also standing with them, also watched but his gaze was calculative and critical. And when his eyes met skekSil's he simply shook his head at him and walked away. Exasperated and furious, the Chamberlain watched as the Mariner moved over to stand by skekZok instead.

"Keep away from the Emperor, he is angry," skekEkt warned unnecessarily as he joined them, skekAyuk nodding hastily in agreement. The Chamberlain didn't dignify the statement with a reply.

Something scurried past his feet, skekSil drew back instinctively, huffing irritably when he saw that it was just the little gelfling brat that skekZok had taken possession of.

With no signs of respect, the little gelfling completely ignored him, scuttling over to stand by the end of the Ritual Master's robes.

He watched suspiciously as skekZok spoke quietly to it in hushed tones, dismissing the irritating little creature hurriedly from the room. What he wanted to know was why skekZok would want a gelfling slave in the first place. How did it benefit him? The Ritual Master had always been so calculating… Was it a mere coincidence that he wanted a personal slave so soon as skekNa's departure from his alliance?

"What does the Ritual Master need with a gelfling slave?" he questioned the other two. "If the Emperor is keeping it as livestock then it should be confined to a cage. Not left to scurry around freely."

There was a small pause as he waited for a reply, the Gourmand in turn waiting for the Ornamentalist to speak first. But skekEkt appeared to be distracted, his wide pale eyes kept jumping to the other side of the room to keep an eye on the Emperor. His normally chirpy attitude had changed to one of worry.

"Personal indulgence. It must make the pompous old fool feel more important to have a slave of his own," skekAyuk suggested when it became clear skekEkt didn't have an answer.

"Yes," agreed the Ornamentalist simply.

The suggestion wasn't satisfactory, but perhaps he was overthinking it, maybe the Ritual Master was just on a journey of self-indulgence.

But he wondered if the other two even realised the significance of the next few days. Though he truly despised the Emperor with every fibre of his body, the Chamberlain knew an opportunity when he saw one. And there would be an opportunity to take advantage of the Emperor's loss, an obvious one.

skekSil was almost certain of skekVar's involvement in the Collector's death, after all he was the one that had pushed the General into acting. And the Gourmand and Ornamentalist also knew, because he had told them in turn.

And now he wanted to tell the Emperor. It was an insistent nagging feeling, knowing such details but being unable to share them. The Chamberlain knew it could be his saving grace. Wouldn't the Emperor be pleased if he, the Chamberlain, was the one that unveiled the traitor skekVar? Wouldn't he be pleased?

But right at this moment, the Chamberlain found he really didn't care if the Emperor was pleased. The Emperor wouldn't want to listen to him, not yet anyway. He had to be careful how he went about revealing the General as a traitor, else he might end up incriminating himself by knowing too much.

"We bide our time," he said to the other two. "When that buffoon returns, we will use this knowledge to our benefit. Then the Emperor will see how truly worthy we are."

* * *

It was just past sunrise.

Sola flitted about the empty hallways nervously, doing her best not to be seen, just as master skekZok had ordered.

This was easy enough, she was a little creature and used to sneaking from years of growing up on the run, but now… she forced herself not to think about the past and focus on her task at hand, she didn't want to disappoint master skekZok. He was the closest thing she had to a friend in the castle, and likely the only she would ever have here. She had learnt soon after arriving that none of the podlings could speak, and knew intuitively that none of the other skeksis would ever even consider talking to her. The few times she had ventured near to them, they had yelled and squawked at her, several had tried to kick her.

Up three flights of stairs she reached the western spire. Following another spiralling stairwell, she reached a small landing where a large open window overlooked the moat below.

She listened for a moment at the top of the stairs, then hearing nothing she headed for the windowsill. Unable to see out, due to her short height, she had to climb up onto the window ledge before she could lean out.

The drop below her feet was immense, her stomach churned just looking down, but she wasn't planning on leaping. Instead she tapped a little rhythm upon the windowsill, then listened. Nothing. She tapped again and listened.

Presently there was the flapping of wings, and a creature as big as she was flew up from where it had been hiding in the crawling branches of a twisted vine that's crawling roots clung to the side of the castle in a hollow below.

Sola quickly swung herself back off the window ledge to make room, behind her the furred reptilian muski landed upon the windowsill with a clatter of claws on stone.

She faced the muski, outstretching her arms to it and quietly calling for it to land.

It leapt down after her, an arrow, as long as she was tall, clasped between its needle-like teeth.

She spoke to the muski quietly, inquiring what it had seen, soul-speech a skill that she was still learning but one she knew most skeksis lacked. She listened intently to its message and turned over the words in her head.

The arrow clattered to the floor as the muski dropped it at her feet. Its job done, the creature crawled back out the open window, Sola trying to help by pushing it up. Once it was gone she picked up the arrow, which seemed more like a spear in her arms, and scuttled back down the stairs to the lower floors.

She knew the quickest route to skekZok's chambers, she had been in them less than an hour before as she slept in the corner upon a pile of rags. Sola had had to be very careful not to wake him when she had left earlier, but now that she had returned with news she didn't think he would mind as much if she woke him.

"Master," she whispered, backing into the room as she tried to pull the door shut behind her, simply too short to be able to reach the door handle. "Master, the spy returned!"

Seeing that he was only showing the smallest traces of waking, Sola impatiently – and without really thinking about it – climbed up and lept upon the raised duvet and blankets where the skeksis lay, much the same way she would have done to wake her father in the past. skekZok grunted in surprise and quickly turned over, a clawed hand grabbing her by the back of her shirt and yanking her away from him with a sneer.

Sola pretended nothing was wrong.

He was all she had. In this cold dark castle where the tall ominous skeksis all cackled and hissed between themselves in a strange, almost musical language, that meant nothing to her ears - he alone spoke to her in words she could understand.

"The muski brought this back," she babbled quickly, holding the arrow out in front of her to divert his anger.

skekZok wordlessly plucked the arrow from her arms and released her. Sola watched him intently as he examined the weapon, hoping for some form of praise.

"Where did it find this?" he asked her eventually.

"Amongst rocks in the valley," she said quickly. "It couldn't find the dead one's robes."

"This is a skeksis arrow," skekZok muttered as he looked it over. "Are you sure this is what killed him?"

"I-I..." Sola stuttered for a moment, how could she possibly know the answer?! But she knew she had to give one, she had to be useful, then maybe skekZok wouldn't hate her so much. "It came from the Valley of the Mystics, and you say it's a skeksis arrow. Unless the mystics stole skeksis weapons, how else would it have got there?"

For a moment he looked at down at her, she couldn't read his expression. Was he angry? Happy? Annoyed?

"Good work, gelfling," the Ritual Master replied eventually.

After that he hurried out of bed and dressed quickly, Sola running around and doing her best to be of use, holding up the many layers of robes he had yet to don.

"I will speak to the Emperor," he said formally. "You will stay in this room until noon, at which time if I am not back then you will head to the kitchens to assist the podlings."

Sola nodded quickly and bowed low as he left.

skekZok hurried through the halls, the arrow clutched in one hand and thoughts running through his head. This was a major discovery, and he knew the Emperor would be interested. What was a skeksis arrow doing in the Valley of the Mystics unless it had been fired there? Had skekMal had gone insane and faked his death? Left his castle life behind and ran away simply to kill the Collector?

In some ways it made a lot of sense.

The two had had a bitter dispute many trine back, when skekLach had still held the title of Census Taker. Back then he and skekMal had worked together at times, so that skekLach could collect dangerous animals as trophies for his collection.

But then one day they split, skekMal refusing to continue working with him after one too many fights over the rights to trophies. He claimed skekLach had been taking more than his fair share of kills.

skekLach hadn't been perturbed, and decided to go hunting without skekMal.

And on that first solo hunting trip of his, skekLach had had a terrible accident.

One of his quarries had turned on him. A vicious snarling ruffnaw had slashed at his face with its long claws, blinding him in one eye, before sinking its sharp teeth deep into his left arm, trying to drag him back underground into its network of tunnels in which it lived.

skekLach had barely escaped with his life, horrendously disfigured and scarred, he had staggered back to the castle, his left forearm in tatters.

Though he had survived, everyone had thought he was done for. The once large boastful and loud skeksis now degraded to the lowest levels of shame and aesthetics, not only was he unsettling to look at but his function as Census Taker was diminishing. The gelflings knew to fear the skeksis by this point, skekLach had no census to take any more, he was next to useless.

But that was when the Chamberlain fell. The Emperor's long-time advisor and favourite, was unceremoniously discarded and publicly berated, shamed.

And out of the blue it seemed, he then chose skekLach.

To this day the only individual who knew why was the Emperor.

But long story short, as soon as skekLach became the Emperor's new favourite and gained the title of Collector, the Hunter had been abruptly brought before the court for trial.

skekMal had been accused of being obscene, of perverting the nature and aesthetic of the skeksis in that he had always refused to fully hide or constrict his minor arms as the rest of them had long since done.

This had never been a law, simply an expectation.

But with such public acknowledgement and fury, skekMal would probably had listened to the Emperor and done as he was told then and there, but he was never given this option.

For some reason the Emperor had simply ordered on the spot for skekUng to forcefully remove the Hunter's minor arms...

skekZok passed several skeksis on his way to see the Emperor, but stopped for none of them. He only came to a stop once he was outside the Emperor's chambers, where he paused knowing that the Emperor might still be asleep, then tentatively knocked upon the door.

"What is it?" was the harsh reply.

skekZok stepped quickly into the room. He found to his surprise that the Emperor's bed was still made and skekSo sitting by the window fully dressed, almost as if he hadn't slept that night. He looked exhausted, but the fury in his eyes was still burning bright, and the Ritual Master knew he had to be careful to make sure it wasn't directed at him.

"Grand news, your majesty," he said, bowing – the arrow held in front of him. "New evidence has come to light. Because the crystal bats could not see beyond the perimeters of the valley, I had a lesser creature go in their place to investigate. They found this. It is a skeksis arrow, I believe it to be one of skekMal's!"

skekSo stalked over and wordlessly took the arrow to look for himself.

"But skekMal is dead..." he said suspiciously. "Was it a trick? Could he still be alive?!"

"That I do not know, your majesty," skekZok bowed his head humbly. "I do not remember his weapons being recovered with his remains, so it is possible he has gone rogue. Or that someone else took them..."

"The gelflings..." skekSo muttered furiously. "They must have ambushed skekMal and killed him, then taken his bow and arrows with them! This is skekSil's fault! The gelflings would never have attacked the urru if they hadn't thought they were a threat!" He smashed fist down upon the table, jarring the objects upon it and startling the Ritual Master.

skekZok quickly recomposed himself though and took advantage of the situation.

"Did the Chamberlain ever relay to the gelflings that the urru are bound to us?" he asked, directing the Emperor's anger towards his rival.

"I do not know, if he did he was not supposed to!" skekSo snarled. "But the gelflings are fools if they think we would not fight back. Obviously there must be survivors lurking around the Valley of the Mystics. But arrows won't do them much good against garthim! They will suffer for what they have done!"

"I will have the crystal bats keep a constant vigil on all the land around the valley," skekZok reassured him. "This act of defiance will not stand."

"Good," skekSo seemed to deflate as he sat back down again. "Leave. Come to me again if there are any further developments."

Satisfied that the Emperor approved of his actions, skekZok headed straight back to his chambers. The comment about the bats had all just been for show, he had already sent out many bats the day before, and they were still circling now. There was nothing more that the crystal bats could do, but luckily for him they weren't his only spies.

The little gelfling ran up to greet him as he opened the door. It astounded him how tame the little creature had already become.

"I did not expect you back so soon, master," she said hurriedly, awkwardly bowing as she noticed him looking down at her expectantly.

"It does not matter," he said dismissively, thoughts already returning to his plan. "Gelfling, I need you to send out three further spies, I have different sites I want them to visit this time. They are to search for other gelflings."

"Gelflings?" she asked nervously, then quickly tried to cover her unease up. "Anything you say, master. Where do you want the spies sent?"

"I want one sent to the Dark Wood, to search along the edge of the northern canyon. There should be no gelflings there now, but it is where a skeksis fell less than a week ago. I want the creature to search for an abandoned bow and a quill of arrows, these belonged to the skeksis that died there and do not appear to have been retrieved with the rest of his belongings. We believe that the gelflings may have stolen them after they murdered our comrade."

"Master I will, but I must tell you something," the little gelfling pressed. "The skeksis who died by the canyon, he was not killed by gelfling. He hurt himself!"

skekZok turned to look down at the tiny creature in shock.

"And how would you know that, gelfling?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Because I was there, master! I was there! He was tracking the group I was travelling with. He caught one of us, and climbed upon a fallen tree, but the gelfling he held below his arm began to struggle. I saw him fall!"

skekZok was about to reply doubtfully, but then he realised it was impossible that the gelfling would have known about the log the robes had been found beside if she hadn't been there.

"Another thing, master, gelflings never stole the bow," she added.

"And why do you say that? Even if your group had moved on, there were other gelflings in the area who could have come and taken them."

"Two things master," the gelfling said, she looked so pleased to know what she was talking about. "Skeksis are very big, and the bow was very big, much too big for gelflings to use!"

"They might have still taken it..."

"But master I have seen it, I have seen it in the castle!" she cried out in dismay, then she shyly wrung her hands in embarrassment at her outburst. "When the things were first brought back, I saw a skeksis speak to another and pass the bow to them."

"Who was it? What did they say?" skekZok asked eagerly.

"They were not speaking in gelfling," she replied uneasily. "But it was the skeksis whose beak whistles when he speaks, he gave the bow to the one who sounds like thunder."

"Sounds like thunder?" skekZok questioned, annoyed at the gelfling's inability to conjure a name – and he decided to teach her the rest of the skeksis' names at a later time.

"The one who sounds like thunder is not around at the minute," she continued. "At least, I have not seen him for a few days now."

"skekVar..." skekZok saw the opportunity. "Gelfling, there is something I must have you do..."

* * *

skekVar returned from his trip just before midday.

The castle was strangely empty when he arrived, which he was grateful for. A bell chimed in one of the towers, rung by a slave to signify his arrival. But no one was waiting to welcome him back in the courtroom, not even the snarling Garthim Master showed up to inspect the state of his precious garthim.

He hurried up the spiralling stairwell until he was at the higher floors where the skeksis all usually resided, and headed for his chambers.

Fumbling with the lock for a moment, casting suspicious glances back over his shoulder, he finally got back inside. By habit he looked around to check that no one had gotten into his room in his absence, but it was exactly as he had left it.

He pulled open the doors of the cupboard in his room, shoving aside old robes and trinkets, including a rusted winged helmet that he had once worn in his earliest days, he hid the bow and arrows at the back of the shelf as he had done before he had set out.

Just as he had finished, he heard the pattering of feet behind him, he dropped the key by accident and didn't pick up again. skekVar turned around hurriedly, expecting to see one of skekNa's spies checking on him.

But it wasn't.

Instead a gelfling brat stood in his doorway.

skekVar had been in such a hurry that he didn't realise he'd forgotten to closed the door behind him.

"What are you up to, slave?" he snarled suspiciously. He only remembered to switch languages when the creature gave him a blank look, and had to repeat himself.

"Sorry," she gave a little bow. "But my master has ordered that I must tell you some sad news."

"..." skekVar hesitated, realizing that he wasn't supposed to know about skekLach's passing he quickly recomposed himself. "Well, what is it?" he barked impatiently.

"The Collector is dead," she told him. skekVar didn't like the way she was tilting her head at him, trying to gauge his reaction. Perhaps he was just being paranoid. "He passed away two evenings ago."

"How did he die?" he asked slowly, trying his best to look surprised. Why bother put the act on for a gelfling though was beyond him, but right now he wasn't willing to take any risks.

"His urru had an accident," she continued.

His urru? skekVar was surprised the gelfling knew about the connection between the skeksis and urru, but didn't think too much about it. Better now to join the gathering and alert the Emperor to the completion of his assignment, and have his sword returned.

Have things return to normal, as they should be.

The Ceremony of the Sun would be starting soon. And after missing it for three days, skekVar was desperate to bathe in the crystal's light once more, his body already felt as if it had begun to decay.

"Alright, now get out of my way," skekVar pushed past the insignificant little creature, shoving the door aside and not looking back once as he headed for the crystal chamber.

The gelfling didn't try to follow him.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as he reached the Crystal Chamber. The Emperor acknowledged his arrival with a nod as skekVar came to stand in his usual place. The Ritual Master was already speaking by this time, reciting his daily passages before the three suns of Thra and the Crystal.

Then the midday sunlight was streaming through the chamber and he felt himself slowly revitalised as the fractionated light shone through him. A cold burning warmth that every skeksis had long since grown use to. The pressure on his aching ribs lessened and his breathing became easier, stiffness in his joints went, the constriction he felt in his thinning limbs relaxed. This was life.

There was an interruption shortly after the ceremony had finished, when the annoying little gelfling came running into the Crystal Chamber without warning, causing several skeksis to exclaim in alarm. Gelflings were NOT allowed in the Crystal Chamber!

The little creature headed straight for the Ritual Master. Even he seemed rather shocked. He dismissed her rather irritably, not listening to what she had to say, and sending her running back out with a quick flick of his wrist.

All the skeksis then departed the Crystal Chamber.

As they gathered in the common room, adjacent to the throne room, the only thing that appeared different from a week before was that skekLach was no longer leering at them all from behind the Emperor's shoulder. To the General, things looked hopeful. So skekVar headed for the Mariner, hoping to talk with his quick-thinking comrade.

But skekSa took one look at him, and began to walk away without so much as a greeting, avoiding all eye contact with him.

And it was then that skekVar realised he had truly lost his only remaining supporter.

The irritating gelfling brat appeared again, running past his feet as it ran for skekZok. Angrily he swatted at the little creature, narrowly missing it.

Despair was not something skekVar was familiar with, irritation was a better description of what he was feeling right then. He had just done something that would not only benefit everyone else, his own life was no longer in danger! skekVar knew he still held the title of General, the only way he could lose this would be if the Emperor appointed someone in his place...it was till that moment that skekVar forgot skekUng, and he glanced over sideways without moving his head.

His focus meant that he didn't notice that skekZok had departed the common room early.

The Garthim Master stood tall, on either side of him stood his allies, he seemed at ease, relaxed even and somehow this upset skekVar far more than if the others had simply been sneering back at him.

Was the Garthim Master so assured of succeeding him he wasn't even attempting to challenge him? _Challenge_? skekVar weighed up the choice of challenging skekUng to a trial, he would have to come up with a verbal challenge first though, he could not simply approach and attack him. But the former would be easy enough, there were plenty of words that could be said and never taken back, enough to goad the Garthim Master into fighting him. But why hadn't skekUng already taken such an action, surely he wouldn't need goading? Had he already spoken to the Emperor?

skekVar's belt felt light, and he remembered his sword was still in the Emperor's possession. Instinctively he scrutinised skekUng, making sure the sword hadn't already been given away. skekUng was unarmed, but this meant nothing, for all he knew the Garthim Master had already melted it down for scrap metal to spite him.

The Garthim Master turned to look at him. Unwilling to let the other see how agitated he was, skekVar looked away. But he could have sworn that skekTek and skekNa were also watching him.

He didn't like the feeling of their eyes on his back.

skekVar quickly made up his mind and began to make his way over to the Emperor, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed skekSil was watching him. Already agitated, he stopped a moment to stare right back, all he got in return was an oily smile. Ahead of him skekZok had returned and was speaking quietly to the Emperor.

"Your majesty," skekVar bowed low to the Emperor, interrupting the Ritual Master. "May I speak to you?"

"Of course," the Emperor replied, seemingly unbothered by the interruption. "Come with me, we should speak in the throne room. skekZok, I appreciate the work you have done for the empire, you may leave."

"Thank you, your majesty," the Ritual Master bowed to the Emperor, but skekVar noticed that he was looking at him as stepped away.

"Shall we?" Emperor gestured towards the adjacent throne room. skekVar was glad to follow him out, not wanting to feel eyes on his back any longer.

It was beginning to feel as if everyone was watching him…

"You completed your mission, with minor losses but it was to be expected," the Emperor stopped, sitting down upon the throne and turning to face him. "Your sword is still your own." And he gestured to where the sword lay propped up against the throne.

_Good, this was acknowledgement_ , skekVar reassured himself, and felt proud. But there was still another issue that he wanted to discuss.

"Your highness, this might sound trivial, but it has come to my attention that the Garthim Master is showing interest in taking my title."

"skekUng wants the title of General?" skekSo seemed genuinely surprised. "Don't worry, you've always been loyal to me, General, ever since the great division. This is not something I will forget. I have no intention in stripping you of your title. Is that all?"

"Yes, your majesty," reassured, he bowed low and turned to leave.

"skekVar," the Emperor's tone had changed, dangerously. "You forgot your sword."

He turned and looked back, the Emperor was still seated in his throne, skekVar's sword held aloft in his bony fingers.

"Oh, my greatest apologies your majesty," he hurried back and reached forth, but skekSo kept the sword out of his reach.

"We believe that skekMal is still alive," skekSo stated abruptly.

"What?" skekVar forgot his manners in surprise.

"skekMal killed skekLach," the Emperor continued, weighing up in the sword in his grip. "He betrayed the skeksis cause, and now I want you to hunt him down, and kill him."

"Kill…?" skekVar exclaimed.

"Do you question your Emperor?" skekSo replied angrily. "You should be honored that I would give you such a vital task."

"I meant nothing by it, my liege," he bowed deeply. "Your wish is my command. When do you wish that I set out?"

"Immediately," skekSo answered solidly, he swung the blade testingly through the air and then held the sword aloft again to skekVar. Only as the General reached out to take it, skekSo wrenched it out of his reach again and rested it against the side of the throne. Reaching beneath his outer robes, he pulled forth a scroll, from which out of a skeksis arrow slid into view. "But first, does this look familiar to you?"

"..." skekVar hesitated, but then decided to reply honestly. "It looks like one of skekMal's arrows, I recognize the fletching."

"That's what we think too," the Emperor replied, getting to his feet. "And now you, ally of skekMal, confirm this. skekUng also said he recognised the pattern as he designed it himself. More and more evidence, yes?"

"Why would skekMal do such a thing?" skekVar questioned, he noticed his sword was being offered back to him again so he stepped closer. "I swear that I will hunt him down for this atrocious act-"

_'SHHK!'_

skekVar didn't have the time to get out of the way, he didn't even feel it; but he collapsed to his knees nonetheless, then keeled over backwards as skekSo shoved him away, yanking the sword back.

"skekZok, had his new slave search your room after your return," skekSo continued indifferently, raising up his other arm to reveal the bow and a quiver of arrows. "Guess what he found?"

skekVar, rapidly losing strength, began to crawl away, all sensibly thoughts gone from his mind. He could still hear the other skeksis talking in the next room, as if nothing had changed, they had no idea what was going on in the next room…

skekSo loomed overhead, blocking his way.

The Emperor regarded him coldly, he looked as if he might say something, but he never did.

He simply watched silently as he died.

Watched on as he went back on a promise he had made long ago, of everlasting life.

"I believed in you…" skekVar hissed at the dimming figure.

* * *

skekZok headed for the throne room when he heard his name called by the Emperor. He had expected to find the General on his knees, begging for forgiveness, but instead he came upon a much grislier sight.

skekVar's robes lay crumpled in the center of the room, stained dark red and coated by a layer of grey dust that was slowly beginning to congeal.

A bloodied sword lay forgotten on the ground. The Emperor stood nearby, hunched and stiff like a statue, his piercing cold gaze now fixated upon skekZok

"...Emperor," the Ritual Master hurriedly bowed, trying to disguise the shock and fear he felt.

"Remove this wreck's ruins from my sight," skekSo's growled at him. "Burn them! And have the throne room cleaned! I don't want to see a trace of the disgrace that has cursed this castle!"


	5. Put to Sea

The three suns of Thra were in near imperfect alignment, midday was fast approaching, their bright light bearing down on the ground below.

But the scorching heat of midday, was not felt by the skeksis deep within the castle's many dark corridors and halls.

The Crystal Chamber was empty. The 18 spaces situated around its crystal where the skeksis normally stood at this time were unoccupied. Even the ritually attending podlings were missing from the alcove balconies above.

These podlings were elsewhere, as were the skeksis.

For today the sun ceremony had been cancelled, to be replaced with skekLach's funeral.

In the darkened Ritual Chamber the skeksis had started to gather. Shuffling around the dark conically shaped room, they spoke amongst themselves as they awaited for the arrival of the casket and the initiation of the ceremony.

Without the ominous presence of the Emperor, who was still yet to arrive, they muttered more freely of their thoughts on the events of the previous day, of opportunities lost, of concerns for the future and of what they had heard from others.

There were now even fewer skeksis than there had been before. A dying race indeed, it couldn't be helped. Best to pretend not to notice that the vast halls of the castle were now practically empty, and above all, ignore the fact that the Emperor ruled not over thousands as he had once done, but a mere 10.

In some ways, skekVar's death had come as more of shock than any of the others had been.

He had always been such a stable figure in the castle, long-term supporter of the Emperor, unwaveringly loyal and dependent. But that wasn't the main reason it had come as a shock. It was a shock because the Emperor had been the one to kill him!

No skeksis had ever directly killed another skeksis in all of their history.

Though skeksis killing skeksis was not unheard of, it has always been indirect, either through banishment or the killing of their counterpart urru.

And now all skeksis regarded the Emperor with new horror. Who was to say that he wouldn't kill another? But no one spoke aloud of this fear, no one dared, not when they all distrusted each other.

skekTek didn't want to be here, he wanted to be back in the Chamber of Life, or resting. Dark bruises had formed on the side of his face where the Emperor had hit him. He felt weaker than usual, more vulnerable, and he hated it. Being visibly injured wasn't the only reason for his unease though, skekUng was not at the gathering.

Missing also were skekShod and skekZok, all in charge of bearing the casket today.

His absence meant that skekTek's only companion was skekNa, and the Slave Master was as usual silent and grouchy company. Without anyone to talk to, he listened in on the conversations of others, the nearest other skeksis being the Chamberlain's followers.

"Where's the Ritual Master? Surely he should be here by now," he heard the Ornamentalist ask the Gourmand loudly.

"He's with the choir," skekOk exclaimed from the sidelines, but was ignored by everyone except skekSa who gave him a silent side-long glance.

"It wasn't fair," hissed the Chamberlain quietly. "Everyone knew who killed him! Why does skekZok get the praise? Hmm?"

"He was faster than you," skekEkt hissed harshly, he sounded annoyed. "The Emperor wanted a quick answer, and skekZok gave one!"

Tempers were frayed, skekTek knew the Garthim Master would be amused to know. He also wasn't the only one to notice the infighting though, skekAyuk was uneasily shifting his weight from foot to foot as the other two bickered.

"I hope he's getting rid of that gelfling," the Gourmand interrupted with a cough, "The last thing the Emperor would want is for it to attend the funeral as well."

"I wouldn't hope for something like that soon," the Chamberlain replied irritably. "As we've seen, skekNa's replacement-"

"My what?!"

skekNa's shrill enraged voice rang out abruptly in the chamber. Apparently skekTek hadn't been the only one eavesdropping on their conversation, and now to his alarm he saw the Slaver was no longer standing beside him but storming over to confront the three chatterers.

"What has your feathers ruffled, hmm?" the Chamberlain replied innocently.

The Slave Master glared at the three skeksis who looked down upon him disdainfully. skekTek knew it was a dangerous move for everyone involved, skekNa was renown for his viciousness and fearlessness, like a savage cornered animal he would fight to the death. While even if provoked, skekTek doubted that skekNa would actually attack the other skeksis, but he also knew that this wasn't a complete impossibility.

If a fight broke out during skekLach's funeral, and the Emperor saw….well, skekTek didn't want to think about how violently he might react. If he had been the Garthim Master he would have gone over then and forcefully dragged the Slave Master back before the argument could continue. But skekTek wasn't skekUng, and so he did nothing except try to look inconspicuous.

"Don't talk of me as if my use is equal to that of some lowly gelfling," skekNa sneered at the Chamberlain, ignoring the two others.

"Hmm, but I would never suggest such a thing," skekSil replied, smiling all the while. "It's skekZok appears to think otherwise, hmm?"

skekNa's one good eye widened at the insult, but then he leaned forward, sneering and said:

"You'd know all about being replaced, wouldn't you, Chamberlain?"

The smile upon skekSil's face immediately vanished. Behind him, skekEkt clucked his tongue in worry and glanced at the Gourmand, both knowing that they might have to intervene to defuse the situation. The Chamberlain was hard to reason with once his mind was set on something, it was his greatest weakness.

Abruptly there was a sharp tapping sound upon the door, and the podlings either side of it immediately began pulling upon robes tied to the towering doors to let the entrants in.

There was a swishing and dragging of robes in the hall outside the Ritual Chamber. Quickly everyone stood to attention, expecting the arrival of the Emperor. Thankfully skekNa finally seemed to come to his senses, and quickly moved away from the Chamberlain to stand back with the Scientist.

But the new arrival wasn't the Emperor.

It was the three casket bearers.

skekZok the Ritual Master walked into the Ritual Chamber first, a star-staff clasped in one hand, while one of the three corners of the casket was balanced on his other shoulder. skekShod and skekUng followed, holding up the other ends of the casket, a procession of podlings following close behind them.

They moved slowly towards the centre of the chamber where a wide pedestal was waiting, and here they placed the open casket upon its surface and drew back. The podlings that had arrived now dispersed to stand at even intervals around the edges of the chamber and out of the way of the skeksis.

Everyone was here now, except the Emperor.

Which was a good thing, because skekNa was still looking for trouble.

The Scientist could only groan in frustration and turn away as he saw the Slaver now heading determinedly over to where the Ritual Master was standing. He tried to pretend to be elsewhere, this was skekUng's problem now...

"You!" skekNa yelled at accusationally at skekZok. "You told your gelfling of the links between skeksis and urru! You broke the law!"

The Ritual Master looked startled at the accusation, and skekTek saw a look of worry flit across his usually stern face.

"Only to serve the empire, if I had not then we might still not yet know of skekVar's treachery," skekZok defended himself. "I unwound the mystery and brought the traitor to justice."

skekNa, at this point, never one for very eloquent words, ran out of smart replies.

"You're a traitor yourself, carcass face!" he snarled back.

"How dare you!" the Ritual Master drew himself to his full height.

"The Emperor is here!" skekOk's suddenly announced, and no one ignored his voice this time.

They all fell silent, eyes upon the door expectantly. skekUng stepped forward quickly while skekNa was distracted, and grabbed hold of his carapace in one hand, dragging him away from the Ritual Master.

Sure enough, just seconds later the Emperor walked into the Ritual Chamber.

They all bowed low.

* * *

Sola watched from the shadows.

Up on one of the many unlit alcove balconies above the Ritual Chamber, she stood amongst the deathly still podlings, a hood pulled over her head so that just from glancing no one would be able to see her as the odd one out.

The Ritual Master's deep voice reverberated around the chamber, echoing, solemn, rich Though she could not understand a word it sounded oddly beautiful to her, and she listened with rapped attention. But most importantly, it distracted her from the podlings that were "dead-but-alive", who stood all around her, milky-white eyes fixed forward, mouths hanging half-open.

These podlings were harmless, she knew that, but their existence was deeply unsettling, and something she wasn't sure she would ever get used to.

She remembered back to the first day after she had been captured, how she had half-dreaded half-hoped to see the other gelflings caught with her on the raid, fearing to see the same vacant "dead-alive" appearance of the podlings in them. But oddly, though she knew they had been in the castle, she had never seen those gelflings again.

Sola suspected she knew why.

Still distracting herself, Sola tried to identify each of the skeksis in the chamber below, as Master skekZok had tried to teach her, and began counting them.

Two were absent from the crowd below, they were both dead, Sola knew that.

There had been a big one, whose loud booming laughter had filled the castle hallways, who had smiled and chuckled mockingly at the others and had always followed after the brightly dressed Emperor.

He was gone now.

There had been another big one, with a thunderous voice. He had not been as smothering with his presence as the other had been, but had spoken less calmly, the volume and pitch of his voice often swinging wildly.

He was also gone now.

Sola recognised the Chamberlain amongst the crowd immediately, dressed primarily in red like the Emperor, he cut quite a distinctive profile amongst the skeksis. And unlike the rest of them gathered there, he was smirking – though he quickly turned, head bowed, when the Emperor looked back over to him

Many of the gathered skeksis appeared uneasy. Bowing lowest when the Emperor was near, even though he never said a thing, not while Master skekZok still spoke.

The eulogy was finished, and in the wake of Master skekZok's last words echoing hollowly in the chamber, there was some unseen signal given. Immediately two podlings came forth, bearing a large metal bowl from which smoke rose slowly. One by one, as the bowl moved around the room, each skeksis took a torch from it and held it aloft.

Soon every skeksis held one, tall burning torches, thick smoke billowing around them. They formed a circle around the casket in the centre of the room, strangely reminiscent of the formation they took each day for the Ceremony of the Sun.

Sola watched confused as to the purpose of the ritual, as they threw the torches into the casket as one, led by the chanting Ritual Master. There was a spectacular burst of flame, a chorus of yells and squawks rang out.

And then silence.

skekZok began to speak again, shorter slower words. Parting words.

The ceremony was over.

Slowly voices began to speak up amongst the crowd, murmuring whispers at first but soon they were talking normally again. Sola fidgeted where she stood, no longer wanting to be on the alcove balcony, she didn't understand what was going on below, only that the ceremony had been frightening and she wanted to be elsewhere now.

Her eyes itching from the smoke, Sola risked leaning forward to see what was happening below.

She could see that the Emperor hadn't moved from where he had thrown his torch, but the other skeksis were already milling around the room. Many of them congregating around the Emperor, talking lowly, bowing their heads repeatedly, jostling at each other to be the one standing in front of him. Sola was surprised to notice the Chamberlain was not amongst them, he was watching from across the room, looking rather angry.

Watching nervously, and unable to comprehend any of their words, Sola could still see that the Emperor was giving only a few short replies to those talking him, beak clacking sharply; he didn't want to speak.

At the other end of the room, the Chamberlain appeared in impatient, and suddenly hurried over to join the throng, looking towards the Emperor.

Scanning the room, she spotted Master skekZok was not amongst those gathered around the Emperor, he had been busy doing something else, and was now leaving the Ritual Chamber, the choir podlings following close behind him.

The podlings on the alcove balcony were now also beginning to disperse, Sola wasted no time in pushing her way back through them and running to the stairwell that led to the floor below, leaping down each step as she went, almost gliding as she hurried to catch up with the Ritual Master.

With a rapid pattering of feet she came to a halt in hallway, just as Master skekZok rounded the corner, holding something aloft in his hands.

"Gelfling," he exclaimed, nearly dropping the object. "Do not run, I have given you that order before!"

"I'm sorry, master," she bowed quickly, but didn't cower, there were none of the others nearby and skekZok was too busy to be angry at her. She looked curiously at what he was carrying in his claws, it appeared to her to be an ornamental vase or pot, blue and white, covered in intricate and spiralling patterns.

Sola didn't recognise the object as an urn, it was not something she had ever seen before.

"Follow," the Ritual Master said with a huff, and continued walking down the hallway, the urn still held carefully in his hands. She said nothing more, simply moving to join the choir podlings, concentrating carefully not to step on his trailing robes or bristly tail as she hurried to keep up with Master skekZok's brisk pace.

Then she froze.

For a moment Sola listened fearfully as her sensitive hearing picked up on the thunderous roars of the shouting Emperor. Then a podling crashed into her and she was knocked off her feet.

Ahead of them, Master skekZok also appeared to have heard, but he was a little slower to react, he turned half-way to look back. Casting only a quick glance at the slaves that had fallen down.

"What are they saying?" he asked her.

"I didn't understand them, master," Sola replied, struggling to her feet as quickly as she could. "It sounded like the Emperor."

Master skekZok huffed again, but he wasn't angry this time. His claws clinked rapidly upon the urn once, then he sighed.

"Gelfling, here," he grabbed hold of her left shoulder and turned her around to face him. "Take this urn to the Chamber of the Dead. Do not drop it, or the Emperor will have your head."

"Yes, master," she said quickly as she was passed the urn that was at least as half as high as she was, she could already feel that it was too heavy for her to carry properly, her hands beginning to slip upon the glass-glazed blue paint of the urn. Somehow though, she managed to keep a hold on it.

The Ritual Master simply nodded distractedly, as he yapped something in podling at the other slaves. The choir of podlings began to continue walking on their own accord.

With a swish of robes, he was leaving.

Sola watched him hurry away with some concern, she herself terrified of the loud and snarling Emperor, Master skekZok was endangering himself by going back. But the weight of the urn was insistently heavy, so she turned away, and began to follow after the podling slaves, slowly so that she didn't trip, down the hallway towards where she could see the warm midday light streaming in through the glass ceiling of the observatory.

* * *

"HOW MANY OF YOU KNEW?!"

The Emperor's back was thankfully turned as skekZok re-entered the Ritual Chamber. The gathering of skeksis that had been around him before were now dispersed, there was a wide empty space all around skekSo. The skeksis themselves stood as a crowd but a small distance away.

Some, like Scientist and Gourmand, looked scared.

Others were doing their best to look impassive, like the Slaver and the Garthim Master.

At the back of the crowd, clutching at his beak and wincing in pain, the Chamberlain seemed to be trying to hide behind the Ornamentalist.

"How MANY of you KNEW it was skekVAR?!" the Emperor repeated the question furiously. "WHY did no one say ANYTHING!? You're ALL TRAITORS!"

There was no direct answer, only muttered apologies and pleading that they hadn't known anything, which then quickly drifted into an uneasy silence.

"I should have suspected as much," he growled. "This kingdom is no longer what it was once was, and it's because of all of you! Decrepit, crawling creatures!"

The tension in the room was palpable, skekZok didn't move from where he was, standing beside the high-arched doorway in silence.

The Emperor was acting dangerously, discriminating between himself and his subjects. Creating divisions that might turn them all against him. If they perceived him as a threat to their lives now, if they worked together and pulled the royal sceptre from his hands, then he would no longer be Emperor.

And the only one that would had loyally stood by the Emperor's side and defended him was dead now, slain by skekSo's own hand.

Would the other skeksis work together to oust him from power or would they as ever just stand to one side?

skekSo looked between each of their faces, scanning them for any signs of deceit or challenge.

No one moved.

And that was what sealed the Emperor's next decision.

Perhaps he sensed the wavering loyalty of his subjects, perhaps he realised he had made a mistake and felt he needed to make an example to keep himself in power. Or perhaps he was just mad.

"skekSa!" he bellowed. "Mariner, I see you lurking back there! Come here!"

There was a small pause, then the shuffling of feet and robes as the crowd parted, drawing back from the Mariner as if he was diseased. As skekSa staggered forth, several of the other skeksis murmured amongst themselves in curiosity, but most just watched in uneasy anticipation.

"Yes, your highness?" he asked in his nasal voice, the end of his words punctuated by a small whistle from where the Mariner had a gap in his teeth.

"You often associated with skekVar, didn't you?" the Emperor accused fiercely, daring the Mariner to contradict him.

"I had cut ties with him, your majesty," skekSa said firmly, his words surprisingly calm. "After skekMal's death, he began to act erratically. But I could never have predicted what he would do. You have my deepest condolences, your majesty."

"And you have my deepest suspicions, Mariner," the Emperor replied savagely, and the Mariner's indifferent expression wavered. "What my sources say contradicts your claim! You were SEEN giving the Hunter's bow to skekVar! Mind you, BEFORE skekTek had had an opportunity to even see it! You deliberately took evidence! Evidence which would later be used against us!"

"It was only a precaution, my lord," skekSa answered quickly, his voice strained. "There was no intention to use it. I merely gave it to him to keep out of harm's way. It was a valuable piece of work, inlaid with jewels and hand-crafted by skekMal himself. I feared it might be stolen if I did not take it!"

"And you gave it to skekVar, who you claim was no longer you ally..." the Emperor scowled. "Your words reek of deceit!"

"No, please, my lord! I do not lie!" skekSa's voice gave way to fear as he pleaded. "skekVar had just been challenged by skekUng, but he wouldn't take it. It was then that I sought to disown him! Ask the Garthim Master. He will tell you that it is true!"

"skekUng?" the Emperor turned away for a moment, and called impatiently. "Is this true? Did you challenge skekVar?"

"Not in words, my lord," the Garthim Master's voice was impassive. "After skekMal's death, he insulted me, so I confronted him. The coward backed down almost immediately."

"Yes, yes, but even so," the Emperor waved skekUng to silence impatiently, turning he looked accusationally at the Mariner once more. "I find it very hard to believe that you wouldn't have known what skekVar was planning, even if you had disassociated from him."

"I swear to you, your majesty, that I did not," skekSa replied firmly. "I knew that he and the Collector held a long-term enmity, but I did not realize that it ran so deep!"

"skekVar was not the brightest of skeksis," skekSo said almost as if an afterthought. "He was much like a garthim. Easy to command but without creativity. To think that he would act so spontaneously is rather unlikely. Someone must have made a suggestion, someone directed him to do what he did..."

"Your majesty, I did not-" the Mariner pleaded.

"Oh stop your blathering," the Emperor snarled. "I'm not going to have you executed, I'm not even going to have you banished! As you've said, you've done _nothing_. In fact, you've done nothing at all to be of use in a long time. I have a mission for you. You haven't had one of those in a while have you, Mariner?"

"There has been no cause for me to go out to sea recently," skekSa defended himself. "We have only one ship left, and it hasn't been used in over 30 trine! It probably isn't even in sailing condition any longer. I've busied myself with minding the transportation of water to the castle, and the managing of the moat-"

"The podlings do a good enough job of that, and the Chamberlain can take over while you are away," the Emperor replied dismissively. "You will head out beyond Silver Sea, rumor has it that there are islands to be found there, perhaps even gelflings. But the distance is too great for a crystal bat to travel, they would drop from the sky dead before they could ever reach the other side. But you, return to the castle with gelflings in tow, and you will be forgiven. Do you obey your Emperor's word?"

A stifling silence filled the room, even the muttering skeksis had fallen quiet. To the Ritual Master standing by the doorway, the Mariner appeared to have died where he stood. Completely motionless, staring wide-eyed at the Emperor, it didn't seem like he would answer the question. And skekZok wondered if the Mariner, despite his need for a cane to walk, might try to run to escape his fate.

"...Y-yes," skekSa accepted the sentence helplessly, gaze wavering as he bowed his weathered head. "Of course. As you wish, my lord."

The Mariner passed skekZok on the way out, but skekSa didn't even seem to see him, eyes set forward and hands shaking as he staggered out of the Ritual Chamber and away down the hallway outside.

skekZok would be the last skeksis to ever see him.

* * *

The Emperor left the chamber soon afterwards.

After making his subjects feel so uneasy, and deciding upon the fate of another of their meager number, he had simply left all of them behind in the Ritual Chamber without a parting word.

The Chamberlain's group were the next to leave, looking between themselves silently until they could no longer hear the distant footfalls of the Emperor moving further away. Then as a coordinated unit they moved out into the hallway.

"The Emperor will see sense soon," the Chamberlain said to the other two, hand still clutching at where skekSo had whacked him upon his beak. "skekLach is gone, now I can be favourite again, hmm."

"Be careful where you tread, Chamberlain," skekAyuk warned, glancing at him. "The Emperor is angry, approach him and that anger will be directed at you again."

"At least we're safer now," skekEkt clucked. "It's Zok I'm worried about."

"He will face the same problems as us with the Emperor," skekSil snipped waspishly.

"The Ritual Master doesn't have the same history with Emperor as you," skekAyuk pointed out. "Don't underestimate him."

"Keep your beak shut!" the Chamberlain snapped angrily. "Things change, hmm?"

And they had were gone from sight, moving elsewhere within the castle.

The rest of them soon followed.

The Ritual Master, tall, elegant and self-important, swept from the chamber with the grace of a ruler, but he was followed only by the slow plodding form of the Treasurer, as he ignored the angry threats that the Slave Master was still snarling at him.

The Scroll-Keeper quickly scurried to catch up with them though, after finding himself alone in a room occupied by only the snarling individuals in the Garthim Master's alliance.

The Garthim Master was one of the last to leave, followed obediently by the Scientist, but he had to shove the Slave Master to get him moving. This was all done in relative silence, just some muttered hissing and cursing, and then they too had left.

Leaving the Ritual Chamber empty.

* * *

The Emperor's simmering anger meant that the Mariner left quietly without much of a fuss, and some skeksis weren't even aware that he had actually left the castle until several hours after he was gone. He took a group of podlings with him, a few garthim, goods and food as well, he locked the door to his chambers and left the castle on foot.

skekSa recalled a memory from long before, nearly 1000 trine ago, when for the second time the individual that had once been the Philosopher SoSu had made another promise that would never be kept.

_"Our world may not have wanted us, but so what? Do any of you even miss that wretched place?" he had crowed to them._

_Everyone had shook their heads. Memories of humiliation, despair and self-loathing filled their minds. Why would they want to go back to that?_

_"We will build a new world in our image!" he continued. "One in which we will rule supreme! WE will decide our future! WE will bring about the Golden Age of Thra! Our will and wit exceeds that of any of the slow savages of this land! WE will guide Thra into the light, TOGETHER! We will educate the gelflings and podlings alike, and they will look upon us as the worthy rulers that WE are! Without us this world is stagnant, but WE, just us, will propel it forward! Thra will become our new home, and we will build it better than anything there has ever been before! And WE have all the time in the world, for as long as we are here, we will LIVE FOREVER!"_

The Mariner stood by the edge of the sea, looking upon the last and only ship belonging to the skeksis' once great fleet.

"My ship," skekSa muttered lovingly, brushing one hand upon the bow the ship. Tiny flakes of wood chaffed off with his touch. He hadn't thought he would ever see this ship again.

Wasn't this the very ship he had taken out to sea so many times as the fall of the gelflings moved ever closer? He had hunted the seafaring Sifa Clan out here long ago, and even after he had been harpooned in the leg by one of them, and lost much of the manoeuvrability in his left knee, he hadn't stopped until they were all gone.

skekSa stepped out of the way as the garthim slowly began pulling the ship down the sloping pebbly beach towards the waters. The Mariner watched patiently, the extent of weathering damage to the sails was not yet clear to him, but he saw there were holes in the hull, several planks baked and bleached by the sun had crumbled and fallen away,

His gaze moved out to the Silver Sea, and he saw that it was churning and black. A storm was approaching.

He looked back to the land, toward skarith and the castle, and saw that it was barren and dead.

Once the trees from the forest had reached as far as the moat, but in the many hundreds of trine that had passed they had been cut back for firewood or poisoned by the spreading veins of the dark crystal. The ground had dried and hardened under the baking sun, and nothing grew there now.

The large animals that had once roamed skarith were all but gone, either hunted or fled to kinder pastures.

And the numerous homes of the gelflings and the podlings, once sprawling across the plains, hugging the riverbanks and many even situated in the trees themselves, were all gone.

He boarded the ship without a fuss, and cast off from the shore.

This was his home, he reminded himself, the sea was his home.

Born into world where there was not a sight left unseen, the homeworld of the UrSkek, skekSa could distantly remember the frustration in knowing that there was no where new for him to explore, nothing new for him to see that hadn't already been seen a hundred times before.

But now, he was going to get a chance to see islands that no one had ever seen before.

That was if he ever got there, he thought, as the ship rocked in the surf. He began shouting orders at the podlings, old memories from his seafaring days coming back to him as he hobbled around on the deck, his walking cane keeping him steady on his feet despite the swaying of the ship.

Raise the tattered sails, check the hull for leaks, fasten the goods down.

_Set course for an indeterminate destination._

From the tallest of the towers the castle of the crystal the ragged sails of the last skeksis ship could be seen, as they drifted slowly further and further out to sea, until the ship vanished over the horizon.

And was gone.


End file.
